


The End of Days

by Griddlebone



Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, F/M, Post-Apocalypse, Romantic Friendship, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-06-17
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2017-10-21 10:19:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 24,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/224100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Griddlebone/pseuds/Griddlebone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tommy finds himself suddenly thrust into a post-apocalyptic world that he doesn't understand. Can he find a way to get home, or is he trapped forever? A story told in small pieces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The first thing that registered in Tommy Oliver's brain was that it was damn hot. The second was that he was pretty sure he had swallowed a mouthful of sand. He felt groggy and disoriented well before he opened his eyes, aware of the unpleasant heat and little else. When he finally dared to crack open his eyes, it only confirmed that today was not going to be a good day. He was lying face-down on the ground, his head wrenched painfully to one side, with the sun beating fiercely down on him from overhead.

There was sand everywhere. He groaned and pushed himself up and onto his hands and knees. His vision swam alarmingly, but he managed to keep from falling over and within a few moments it had passed. He was finally beginning to think that he should wonder what on earth had happened to him when a shadow fell over him.

He started at the sudden realization that he was not as alone as he had assumed. Pushing himself into a crouch and hoping against hope that this would not come to a fight, he peered blearily in the direction the shadow had come from.

A humanoid figure wearing an overabundance of clothes, considering how hot it was, loomed over him. Whoever it was, it had made sure to put the sun behind it when it approached him; the light dazzled his eyes and made it next to impossible for him to make out any details of its appearance. But he saw one thing clearly: in its right hand, the figure held a bizarre looking weapon that was nonetheless very definitely a gun. And it was pointing that gun directly at Tommy's face.

"Oh, good," said a very familiar, very female voice. "You're awake.


	2. Chapter 2

The figure before him shifted slightly; Tommy craned his neck just a little bit more, finally able to glimpse his captor's face. "Trini?" he blurted, disbelieving. The voice had sounded familiar, but Trini was supposed to be participating in a student exchange program somewhere in Europe right now. Or so he had thought.

Her eyes went wide for a moment before she could regain her composure, the only sign that he had surprised her at all. "How do you know my name?" she demanded, her tone uncharacteristically harsh. "Are you a spy? I'll let you die quickly if you tell me the truth."

"I'm not a spy!" he protested frantically. "Do I _look_ like a spy? Trini, what's going on here? Is this some kind of game?"

"How do you know my name?" she reiterated, raising her voice slightly in emphasis.

"What do you mean? Don't you remember me?"

The hard look in her eyes told him that no, she did not.

Of all the ways he had ever thought he might die – being hit by a car, falling to his death in some sort of freak skydiving accident, being blown up in the middle of a battle against aliens bent on destroying the Earth – being shot in the face by Trini was not a possibility that he had ever seriously considered. She had always been the one person he could count on to be calm and rational, no matter what was going on. Not so much, now.

When she made no move to point that weapon of hers away from him, panic started to set in. If Trini wanted to kill him, _really_ wanted to kill him, he was dead meat. And he suddenly had no doubt that she would not hesitate to end his life if he didn't think fast. "Look," he said, trying to come up with something on the fly. "I must be mistaken. You're obviously not the Trini I know. This is all just some sort of misunderstanding. There's no need for violence."

That seemed to reach her... for all of a second.

"Why should I believe you?"

"I'm not armed," he pointed out. "And until a few seconds ago, I was unconscious. And I have no idea where on earth I am." As he spoke, he realized that he really didn't know where he was, nor how he had ended up there in the first place. The last thing he remembered was... pain shot through his head as soon as he tried to dredge up concrete details from before the last few minutes. He almost wished she would just shoot him already and get it over with.

"You are not a slaver, then?" she asked, finally relaxing enough to lower the gun.

"Slaves? What are you talking about?"

Her weapon went right back to where it had started, pointing right at his face. "Which of the raider lords pays you to spy for him?"

"None of them," he said with a sigh, glad he hadn't got his hopes up. There was absolutely no way this conversation was going to end well. "I don't even know what you're talking about."

She scowled mercilessly.

"I'm telling the truth!" he insisted. "You have to believe me!"

She glanced around quickly, obviously looking for some sort of proof that he wasn't what he said. Well, he thought, at least she wouldn't find anything like that. At least, he hoped she wouldn't.

"How did you get here?" she asked after a moment. Her tone was softer than it had been a minute ago; maybe that was a good sign. "And why are you dressed so strangely?"

"I haven't the foggiest," he answered honestly, wishing that she would point that gun away from him and keep it that way.

"The only footprints here are mine," she observed. She looked seriously confused, even a little bit scared. "So you can't have walked here. And if there had been an airship or a glider, I'd have seen it. Or heard reports of it."

"I don't remember an airship," he pointed out helpfully, though the casual mention made him curious. Why not just say 'plane'? It was pretty obvious that he had no parachute or other landing gear. "Actually, I don't remember much of anything from before you woke me up."

"You knew me."

"I, uh, I used to know someone that resembled you."

"And just happened to have my name."

"Look, I can't explain it, okay? But yes, I knew a girl named Trini and she looked an awful lot like you." He looked at her hard, trying to find any definitive physical differences between this Trini and the one he knew... and failing miserably. As far as he could tell, and despite her insistence to the contrary, this _was_ Trini. The Trini he knew was a lot less mean, though.

"You can't expect me to just believe that this is all a big coincidence," she said.

"But it is!"

"You are the _worst_ spy I have ever met."

"That's because I'm not a spy!"

It seemed like it might finally be sinking in. "I almost believe you."

He groaned and let his eyes drift shut, wishing that she would either get this over with or at least give him a chance to get up and fight.

But it seemed luck was with him today, kind of. If he ignored the fact that he had woken up in the middle of a desert with no idea where he was, staring down the muzzle of a gun.

"I don't know if you're telling me the truth, but I can't just leave you out here to stir up more trouble. If I let you up, will you cooperate?"

He nodded slowly, hardly believing the sudden change of heart.

"I sent a signal as soon as I saw you. My partner will be along any moment now. If you try anything funny, you'll just be caught again," she warned. "And my partner won't be nearly as gentle as me."

"Got it," he assured her. He had no intention of failing to cooperate with her, not when it looked like she would be all too happy to blow his brains out at the slightest provocation. And especially not when she called this 'gentle'.

"Good. Then get up and start walking. We've got a lot of ground to cover before nightfall, and she," he got the impression that she meant the partner she had mentioned earlier, "won't be pleased if we're late getting to the designated campsite."

He was so relieved that he didn't even complain when she insisted on tying his hands and leading him like a prisoner. "You're not going to kill me then?"

She smiled grimly. "Not yet."


	3. Chapter 3

It was official: Tommy was not in Angel Grove anymore. Not anywhere even close. Where there should have been tall buildings and greenery and people, there was only an enormous expanse of empty desert. For the most part the land was level, punctuated by the occasional cactus or cluster of dried-up brush. Far in the distance he could make out the vague shapes of enormous sand dunes, and tall mesas and rocky up-thrusts.

There were a lot of questions he wanted to ask - namely, "where on Earth are we?" - but he followed Trini in silence. It was surprisingly easy to be content with the fact that he was alive and able to put one foot in front of the other, even though it was scorching hot and he wasn't used to walking so far or so fast over sand.

Oblivious to, or deliberately ignoring, his discomfort, Trini trudged on ahead. She set a good pace, which had Tommy struggling to keep up at times, but did not seem to mind letting him lag a little behind. In fact, so long as he followed at a reasonable pace and obeyed whatever orders she gave, his presence did not seem to bother her in the slightest, despite her earlier animosity. Not that the rope she'd tied his hands with gave him much choice in the matter.

He had already tried and failed to worm his way out of the bindings, and had come to the conclusion that he should just accept his fate and wait for a chance to get free. And hope that Trini didn't decide to shoot him in the meantime. But since she took care to give him a share of the water from her canteen every now and then and hadn't already offed or abandoned him, he had hope even for that.

It seemed like they had been walking for ages when he realized they were heading toward the closest of the rocky outcroppings, a large mass of reddish stone. As they drew gradually closer, he could make out a dark shape at the base of the mesa. A cave? Or something man-made?

He couldn't tell yet, but he had a feeling he was going to find out.

The sun was significantly lower in the sky by the time they finally arrived. Everything seemed tinged red and pink with the dusk, and Trini finally seemed ready to stop for the day. For his part, Tommy was glad just to be walking in the shadow of the huge monolith, instead of in the sun.

He had guessed right; they went right up to the dark spot, a cave cut into the stone, but they didn't go in. Instead, Trini turned to him and looked him over for a moment.

Finally: "If I untie you, are you going to behave?"

He nodded enthusiastically. He was ready to just collapse into the shade and sleep, but if she was offering him his freedom instead, he wasn't going to say no.

She scrutinized him carefully. "You had better not do anything stupid."

"I wasn't planning on it."

She effortlessly untied the knots that had so hopelessly bound him. He gratefully rubbed his hands to restore circulation that had been impeded for too long.

"You can have a look around if you like," she told him. "I don't think you can get into too much trouble here."

"I promise I won't get in any trouble at all," he assured her. It didn't look like she believed him. Her loss.

He glanced toward the gaping black hole in the rock, wondering if he should go in or stay outside.

"Here," Trini said, digging in her pack. She drew out something that looked suspiciously like a flashlight and handed it to him. "You'll want this. It's dark inside."

She was right, of course. After some fumbling he managed to get the thing turned on, and it emitted a light bright enough to see by. Thus prepared, he headed through the doorway. What he saw took him slightly aback.

The entire mesa had been hollowed out. Inside were a series of halls and small caverns, some stocked with preserved food and barrels of what he assumed was water, others obviously intended for sleeping or living. A staircase was cut into one wall, winding its way upward.

Tommy briefly explored all of it, pleased with his newfound freedom. But there was nothing of interest. There were no personal touches in any of the rooms, no decor beyond some utilitarian blankets and a white box with a red cross on it that he guessed was a first aid kit. There were no people. And there certainly was nothing that even came close to explaining what was going on.

For that, he would have to face Trini.

He found her sitting on the stoop outside the entrance, drinking out of her canteen and watching the scenery as if it were the most perfectly normal thing in the world to do.

"You were bluffing!" he accused. Not exactly what he had intended to start with, but it annoyed him to be duped so easily. "You don't have a partner, you were just trying to scare -"

He cut himself off when she gestured lazily toward the sky to his left. He let his gaze drift in that direction and saw, much to his surprise, a strange sort of flying contraption in the air. It looked like something out of an early science fiction novel, or maybe one of da Vinci's notebooks - like the impossible offspring of a hang-glider and a motor-powered airplane. If he squinted, he could make out the form of a pilot, clad in dark material that might have been leather or something equally durable. But whoever it was, his or her face was covered by a mask and a set of large, bizarre-looking goggles. It was an ungainly vehicle; he did not know how it managed to stay aloft, only that it did.

The pilot cut the engine and slowed its approach, gliding around the mesa a couple of times before vanishing completely. Dumbfounded, Tommy stared at the place where it had disappeared around the side of the mesa. It was really too bad Billy couldn't see any of this.

"Come on," Trini said suddenly, interrupting his thoughts with her imperious tone, as if she was tempted to physically prod him out of his helpless gawking. On second thought, she probably wouldn't hesitate to do just that if he didn't get moving. "Let's go see how her patrol went."


	4. Chapter 4

Trini led the way up the main staircase. It wound up into the stone of the mesa before widening up into a huge landing. An enormous opening had been cut into the rock; the view was spectacular, but the room was meant to be a hangar, not an observation deck. This was where the strange flying machine Tommy had seen a few moments ago had disappeared to.

It was now silent and still, its pilot nowhere to be seen, but it was no less bizarre close up than it had been when seen from a distance. He was intensely curious about the strange machine and would have liked a chance to take it for a spin himself, to see how it worked, but one look from Trini quashed that idea before he could even voice it.

So instead, he contented himself with merely asking, "What is this thing?"

Her expression shifted from imposing glare to mild confusion. "It's a glider," she explained, as if he should already know that. "One of our airborne patrol vehicles."

And she left it at that for the moment, heading toward the far end of the room. He realized now there was a doorway there, covered by a curtain. Halfway there, Trini paused and looked over her shoulder at him. "Don't touch it."

Tommy pretended he had not been about to do just that and nodded obediently.

Satisfied with his answer, she only glared at him for a couple more seconds before turning back to her goal. "Everything all right in there?"

There was a muffled response, and then the curtain was yanked open. Behind it stood the missing pilot, now quite obviously a woman, still wearing flying gear. Or at least most of it. He couldn't help but ogle a little. She had some very fine curves, and the tight leather pants and that half-buttoned flying jacket with the flimsy, almost sheer shirt underneath weren't doing her any disservices.

As he watched, practically spellbound, she shed her gloves and pushed her goggles up onto her forehead. Then, after sharing an amused glance with Trini, she turned to Tommy, tugged the flying mask down off her face, and asked a question. A question he never heard, because it felt like his heart had stopped beating.

Underneath all that flying gear was Kimberly Hart.


	5. Chapter 5

Tommy sat on cool sands and watched as the stars progressed through their nightly motions. The sight of familiar constellations tracing slow circles across the sky would have been soothing... if not for the constant prickly feeling of being watched. Trini and Kimberly sat a short distance away from him; he could faintly hear their murmured conversation, but had long since stopped trying to eavesdrop.

Instead he let his thoughts wander to his current predicament. He wasn't sure where he was or how he had come to be there. The only things he knew for certain were that this wasn't Angel Grove... and he had no idea how to get back home, if he even could.

He supposed it could have been worse. He could have ended up in some Dark Dimension again, facing evil versions of his old friends instead of... whatever these were. The girls were clearly still themselves, but they were also fundamentally different. This wasteland world had obviously had an effect on them.

These might be different from the Trini and Kimberly he had known, but he still trusted them implicitly. And so he didn't mind (too much) that they were currently deciding his fate. At least they knew where they were and what was going on, which was more than he could say for himself.

He would just have to trust them until he could find a way to get back to Angel Grove. He was sure it wouldn't be easy, but he had gotten here somehow and that meant, he hoped, that he could also go back.

Good thing he liked challenges.

Lost in his thoughts, he almost hadn't noticed that the sky was growing lighter in the east. For better or worse, the sun was rising on a new day.


	6. Chapter 6

Tommy did not realize he had fallen asleep until he woke up with the sound of buzzing in his ears, a mechanical drone that was far more annoying than anything should be allowed to be. Worse: his eyes felt crusty, his body bone dry, and he had sand in places where there should never, ever be sand.

And since that apparently was not bad enough, there was a giant _thing_ (airship, his mind supplied belatedly) hovering in the air near the mesa where he and the girls had taken shelter for the night. Hovering maybe fifty feet overhead, it looked for all the world like a small, deranged zeppelin, and was the source of the constant noise.

"When did that get here?" he muttered.

"Just a few minutes ago," a very familiar voice chirped from somewhere behind him. Kimberly. "She's a beauty, isn't she?"

"Yeah," he agreed absently.

"Come on, get up," she urged. "It's here for us."

A short while later, after a hasty breakfast, Tommy found himself escorted up a rather terrifying rope ladder and into the airship. Three men and a woman were waiting for them as they climbed one by one through the hatch. After exchanging greetings with Trini and Kimberly, and sending suspicious looks in his direction, the woman and one of the men descended from the ladder; the remaining men retreated to a room toward the front of the vessel, which Tommy assumed was the control room, leaving the passengers alone.

The room they were in was fairly large, with a cluster of benches secured to the floor toward the center. But more importantly, there were windows. Lots of windows.

Once they were safely aloft, he made his way over to the nearest window and looked out. They were rising slowly and drifting roughly west across the desert. From up here, the world seemed like nothing so much as a sea of sand, dotted with small islands and distant, tiny pockets of green.

It was beautiful, in a strange, desolate way.

He made his way slowly along one row of windows and then crossed to the other before finally settling on a vantage point. He had to admit it was kind of soothing to just drift along like this, watching the world go by. It had been a long time since he had really had a chance to relax. Being a Power Ranger tended to have that effect.

As his thoughts gradually soured, he became aware of a presence nearby. He glanced over without turning his head and nearly sighed.

Kimberly stood next to him, eyes closed, her elbows propped on the railing and her chin resting atop her hands. She looked peaceful, serene, beautiful... as utterly at home in the air as the Kimberly he had known back in Angel Grove.

And he could feel the wounds, so recently beginning to heal, start to reopen at the sight of her.

It was difficult, and somewhat confusing, to keep the two versions of Kimberly separate in his head. There was the Kimberly he had known and fallen head over heels for, who had ultimately broken his heart, and then there was this Kimberly, who he really did not even know yet. They looked the same and had many of the same mannerisms, and yet there were differences.

This one wore leather, for example. Not that he was complaining.

Except maybe he _should_ complain, because it wasn't fair for one Kimberly to be this attractive when the other had recently dumped him.

He wondered if he had a prayer of being friends with this Kimberly, or if he would be doomed to make the same mistakes all over again. It would be risky... but so far she was the closest thing to a real ally he had in this place, and he had a feeling he was going to need all the friends he could get.

Even if that meant swallowing his lingering bitterness and tempting fate.

"I thought you and Trini were supposed to be on a patrol of some sort," he commented quietly.

"We were," she said with a little laugh. "But the Elders asked us to return to the 'Hold with you to give a more thorough report."

He could practically feel Trini's gaze boring into his back. It was almost creepy. "Sounds like it's kind of a big deal."

Kimberly shrugged. "Well, it isn't every day we find cute guys with no memory wandering around in the desert, you know."

It was probably better that they thought he had amnesia, since his real story was a bit hard to believe, so he didn't correct her about the memory thing. Instead, he asked, "So, uh, what's this 'hold' thing you keep talking about?"

She shifted to face him, and he found himself almost unconsciously doing the same. "The Angel's Grove Stronghold. 'The 'Hold' for short. It's where the Rangers live, sort of our base of operations."

"I see," he said, even though he did not, and that earned him another giggle.

"Don't worry, you will. I'll even give you a tour myself." The dazzling smile that followed told him without a doubt that he had just stepped out of the frying pan... and straight into the fire.


	7. Chapter 7

The Stronghold was similar to the outpost where Tommy and the girls had spent the night, in that it had been hollowed out of an enormous rock formation, but it was larger. _Much_ larger. Large enough, in fact, that several airships like the one that had brought them here could fit on top of it with room to spare.

They made a neat landing on the roof, and by the time they touched down Kimberly was fairly bouncing with excitement. "I can't wait to show you everything!" she exclaimed.

"If the elders permit it," Trini cautioned.

"They will," Kim assured him. Somehow he managed to evade her grab for his hand without feeling entirely awkward. This was Kimberly, after all. And while he might have decided already to make her an ally in this strange place, but that didn't mean he was going to let her haul him around like they were boyfriend and girlfriend. He knew how treacherous those waters could be, and he wasn't about to be caught off guard.

"They might not," Trini insisted, ignoring her companions' antics.

Tommy decided it was best just to let the girls bicker, rather than risk drawing Kimberly's attention again, and waited for some signal that they had permission to disembark from the airship. It wasn't long before he heard the sounds of activity outside the ship. A few seconds later the side door was pulled open.

There was a group of people clustered outside. Some were armed with strange guns like the one Trini carried, others were not. None of them looked especially friendly.

Kimberly gave him a last, reassuring look before the three of them were ushered from the ship and down into the Stronghold. There was a small structure that looked like a hut near one end of the roof, standing beside what must have been a radio tower, and this was where they headed. Inside, they descended a winding metal staircase that led into the depths of the Stronghold.

The stairwell was lit by bright electric light bulbs; somehow he hadn't expected that.

It seemed that they headed down for a very long time. After a while, Tommy felt his apprehension growing with every step. Kimberly and Trini had been chatting up for most of the trip, but now they sobered and fell silent. This couldn't be good.

When they finally departed the stairwell, passing through a doorway off the third landing, he was led down a long hallway - in the opposite direction from the girls. His group walked in silence, so he could hear Kimberly and Trini being given stern orders from their escorts. But sound seemed oddly muffled in this place and it wasn't long before he couldn't make out what was being said anymore.

He'd heard enough, anyway. He had tried to feel as confident as Kimberly about the reception he would face, but this settled it. He was officially in trouble.

But there wasn't much he could do about it. For better or worse, this was the path he had chosen. He would just have to hope for the best... and try to fight his way out if things went downhill. But considering the fact that he had three escorts, all of whom were armed while he was not, he wasn't particularly eager to test his luck.

Besides, no one had been openly hostile toward him yet. He tried to convince himself that that was a good sign and not an indication of impending doom, and would have succeeded had he not been guided into a smaller side hallway at just that moment. This hallway was not as wide or well lit as the first, and it was lined with narrow doors on both sides.

An imperious looking woman, who must have been one of the elders Trini kept talking about, was waiting for him about halfway down that hall. "I apologize, sir," she said as Tommy and the others drew closer. "But we can't just have you roaming about the 'Hold until we're certain you aren't a threat."

He stared at her in silence, wondering if he should be regretting his decision to trust Kimberly and Trini.

The woman opened the door she had been standing in front of and motioned Tommy inside. That door opened onto a tiny cell, and he did not like the look of it one bit.

"It'll just be for a little while, while we interview Kimberly and Trini to verify your story," she assured him. "You understand, of course."

"Of course," he agreed. But he didn't, really. He wasn't sure what he had done to merit being locked up, but he didn't argue the point. It would be better, he suspected, not to cause trouble. And he didn't think he would change her mind, no matter what he said.

"We'll be back to talk to you soon," she said. And without another word she shut the door behind him and locked it. He listened to her footsteps fade into the distance, and then there was silence.

Since he didn't have anything else to do, he wasted a few moments looking around his cell. It didn't take long: the place was dark and cramped, the only light filtering in through a slit in the metal door, and there wasn't much in it except dust and cobwebs.

Tommy finished his inspection with a sigh. So much for hospitality.


	8. Chapter 8

Tommy Oliver had never been blessed with particularly good luck. Anything that could go wrong generally did, so he was somewhat surprised when it was not all that long before the woman who had locked him up returned to let him out.

"That's it?" he asked.

Without looking particularly enthused, the woman replied, "It kept you out of trouble, didn't it?"

He had to grudgingly admit she was right, although he was not about to tell her that he did in fact have a knack for accidentally getting into trouble.

"Kimberly and Trini have given their testimony and the elders have made their decision," the woman went on. "Come along."

Tommy wasn't sure he liked the sound of that, but figured he didn't have much choice in the matter and might as well face his fate head-on. He followed her back down the hallway and into the maze that was the Stronghold, and was thoroughly lost by the time they reunited with Kimberly and Trini.

The girls were not alone. They were accompanied by a cluster of adults that could only be the elders everyone had been talking so much about. Tommy was a bit disconcerted to find that none of these so-called elders was past middle-age. It was really starting to sink in that this place wasn't at all like the Earth he called home, and he had to wonder just how tough it might be to survive here.

For a long moment the group of elders simply observed him in silence. He felt nervous under their scrutiny. Had someone forgotten to tell him he was supposed to bow, or say something, or show some other sign of respect? Ultimately, it was one of the elders that broke the silence. "We have some questions for you, young man."

"Ask away." Questions? He could handle questions. He had been half expecting a fight. Although after the way Trini had interrogated him when she found him, maybe he was right to expect the worst.

"What is your name?"

"Tommy Oliver."

"Trini and Kimberly tell us that you have no memory of what happened to you before they found you yesterday," the elder, who looked like she must be related to his old teacher, Ms. Appleby, went on. "Is this true?"

"Yes," he said without hesitation. It was close enough to true, at least, and he didn't want to create any more fuss or confusion than he absolutely had to.

"And why have you come here?"

"I don't know. Because Trini and Kimberly brought me here, I guess." He had a feeling he had just made a pretty critical mistake, but tried not to let it faze him. It wouldn't be the first time he had majorly messed something up.

One of the other elders, a man with salt-and-pepper hair, spoke up. "Do you even know where you are?"

"Not really, no. Kimberly told me what it's called, but I don't have any idea where this place is or why it's even here." Honesty was the best policy, right? Kimberly had mentioned something about 'rangers', but while he liked the sound of that he had no real idea what it meant. He hoped that one of the elders might see fit to enlighten him.

None of the elders looked pleased by his answer, or the least bit inclined to answer any of his implied questions. Tommy sighed. "Look," he said, "I may not know what's going on here, but I've heard and seen some things that worry me and I'd like to help if I can."

"You believe _you_ can help _us_?"

It sounded really presumptuous when they put it like that. Of course, these people did not know his history as a Power Ranger. But he was becoming more and more convinced that the people of this world needed help. Trini had mentioned spies and slaves, and from what he had seen, the land was little more than desert. Even if he never told them about the Power Rangers, he thought he could be an asset to them. He was strong. He knew how to work hard. And he knew how to fight. The rest he could learn as he went. If nothing else, it would give him something to do until he figured out how to get home.

The only hard part, really, would be convincing the elders that letting him help was a better option than locking him up and throwing away the key.

"I won't know until I try," he told them.

This earned him nothing more than unimpressed looks from the amassed elders.

"Look at him," Kimberly piped up suddenly. Her obviously unwanted contribution to the discussion drew the elders' ire momentarily away from Tommy, for which he was grateful. "He's obviously no weakling. And he managed to keep up with _Trini_ for an entire day. We have a couple of empty beds. Why send him to the cities and try to find another candidate later when he's already here?"

"Because," came the sharp answer, from a tall, thin woman who had not yet spoken up, "we have no proof that this man is trustworthy. We do not know where he came from or who he serves. The safest option is to send him to the cities and find others to work as Rangers."

"What makes orphans and thieves better candidates than someone with amnesia?" Kimberly demanded.

"Kimberly Hart, you will be silent or you will be removed from these proceedings."

"You're making a mistake," Kimberly insisted.

Watching this, Tommy felt suddenly torn. He was not sure if it was real or all in his head, but he felt a strong attachment to Kimberly and Trini, and he didn't like the idea of being separated from them. But at the same time, if there were cities elsewhere in this world, those might offer a better opportunity of finding a way home. This Stronghold seemed like little more than an outpost in the middle of nowhere.

But one thing was certain. If the elders sent him away now, he would never get another chance to come back.

"I want to stay," he said suddenly. "I want to learn everything you can teach me here."

"And why is that?" asked one of the elders, eying him critically.

"I don't know much about this place," he admitted. "But if I can do good here, then that's what I want to do."

The elders clustered together, apparently discussing what he had just said. After a lengthier debate than Tommy would have liked, they turned back to him.

The one that looked like Ms. Appleby stepped forward, as if she were the group's spokesperson. "Is it your desire to become a Ranger and serve this Stronghold, Tommy Oliver?"

With conviction, he told them, "Yes."

Kimberly looked elated. Trini looked almost guilty. The elder's gaze hardened into a fierce glare. "Is it?"

"Yes," he said with less certainty. A moment later, deciding that maybe he really wasn't as sure as he thought he was, he added, "What exactly _is_ a Ranger?"


	9. Chapter 9

A Ranger, Tommy was informed, was many things. A Ranger was a guardian of civilization. From their stronghold bases, strung out along the edges of the great desert, the Rangers patrolled the wastelands and destroyed monsters before they could reach the human cities and wreak havoc. They were innovators, making use of technology that was new to the people of this world, such as radio and powered flight. They were also warriors, trained in combat and ready to defend civilians at a moment's notice should the need arise.

They were also, for the most part, orphans and children from poor families who had been selected as Rangers in order to give them a chance at a better life. Most were raised in the stronghold from a young age, usually from the time they were between the ages of seven and nine. A few came later, of their own choice.

Even the youngest were subject to strict rules of conduct, but there was a certain pride in being chosen to work as a Ranger. After all, the strongholds could only employ as many Rangers as they could house and provide for, so the number of available positions was generally small.

Rangers, it was impressed upon him in stern tones, were very, very rare.

Tommy was lucky. There was an open bed in the 'Hold right now. That meant he could take the Ranger test and, if he was found worthy, be allowed to remain at the 'Hold until death, injury, or other circumstances forced his retirement.

Maybe lucky was the wrong word.

When all of this had been explained to him, in the bored manner of a long-memorized, often-repeated speech, by the elders of the Stronghold, Tommy asked, "So what does this test involve?"

"It's basically an aptitude test to see if you'd make a good Ranger," Kimberly piped up, earning displeased looks from her superiors.

"The test is in three parts. In the first you will be asked to demonstrate that you are capable of thinking clearly and quickly, and that you can solve problems for which there is no easy solution. In the second part your skill with machinery will be tested. The third trial is a combat test in which you will face one of our veteran Rangers, in a realistic demonstration of what a Ranger may face on a day-to-day basis," explained the elder woman who looked like Ms. Appleby.

Tommy wished he knew any of the elders' names. It would have made addressing them, and responding to them, a lot easier. "Sounds easy enough," he said, hoping he didn't sound overly confident.

When the elders exchanged knowing looks among themselves, he hoped he wasn't being overly confident. But at the same time, since they seemed so convinced that he would be unable to pass the test, he became determined to prove them wrong.

The first two trials were simple, at least for someone who had served as leader of the Power Rangers team. He might not know a lot about this world, but many of the basics of leadership and quick thinking remained the same no matter what. And he had piloted enough zords in addition to more mundane mechanical tinkering to be able to guess his way around machines, even the bizarre ones they used here in the Stronghold.

While the elders who were serving as judges did not seem particularly impressed with the results of his first trial, he did catch them murmuring excitedly amongst themselves after his mechanical test. He had picked up on the ins and outs of their theoretical machinery with a speed that had actually surprised them.

By the time he was ready to head into the third trial, a small crowd of onlookers had joined Kimberly and Trini. Unsure of exactly what he would be facing in the final, combat-based trial, Tommy felt a bit of foreboding. He had faced plenty of dangers as a Power Ranger, and gotten himself and his teammates out of more than their share of sticky situations, but he knew it was never a good idea to go into a fight assuming that victory was assured. He needed to be ready for whatever they were going to throw at him.

Unfortunately, the 'whatever' the elders were going to throw at him turned out to be Jason Lee Scott. Or his equivalent from this world, if the two were really all that different.

Somehow, the fact that he was going to face Jason for this test made him feel better. Jason was one of his best friends. He knew Jason's personality and his fighting style, and he knew how to beat Jason in a fight, even if such a feat was often easier said than done.

And he had even more incentive to win when he heard Kimberly mutter, "Oh, that's so not fair, putting him up against Jason like that."

The training ring was set up outdoors in front of the Stronghold. It was really just a square marked out in the sand, but that was all part of the test; the objective was to score as many points as possible within the time limit, and points were scored by knocking one's opponent to the ground or pushing him out of the ring. It would have been much easier if the opponent was not also trying to score as many points as possible. Still, Tommy thought it all sounded reasonable.

Kimberly, accompanied by a pair of younger girls who might have been ten or so, brought him some lightweight padded armor and a makeshift club. Jason was outfitted in much the same way, although Tommy was annoyed to see that most of the young people who had turned out to watch the match seemed to be there to support Jason. Well, he would show them.

One of the elders reiterated the rules for all to hear. While this was being done, Jason and Tommy stepped into the ring. Tommy bowed respectfully; Jason did not bow, but regarded Tommy with dark, intense eyes.

Tommy tried not to let that bother him. The Jason he knew had always been somewhat intimidating. This was no different.

Except that it was.

The elder finished his recitation of the rules and all bets were off.

Much to Tommy's surprise, Jason fought dirty. He had been expecting a pretty straightforward fight, but this was anything but.

Rather than engaging him directly, Jason stayed determinedly out of range and attempted to use the environment to his advantage. First he used any sticks and large rocks he could find as projectiles, aiming for any vulnerable point; when that failed, he kicked sand at Tommy, hoping to get it in the other man's eyes, and used the distraction this provided to rush forward and pitch Tommy to the ground.

As he hauled himself back up for round two, Tommy realized he'd been thinking of this trial all wrong. Jason wasn't participating in this test to act like a Ranger or a sparring partner. He was there to fight like the Rangers' enemies. Of course he wasn't going to fight fair. Their enemies were ruffians and animalistic monsters, neither of which could be counted on not to exploit an unfair advantage in battle.

Tommy needed to stop thinking of his opponent as Jason, his friend, and start thinking of him as one of the men Trini had called raider lords: one of the bad guys.

This time, when the signal to start was given, Tommy did not give Jason time to find an advantage. Instead he charged forward, putting the fight on his terms. After a few failed attempts at getting past Jason's defenses, Tommy ditched his club altogether in favor of fighting barehanded. This seemed to take Jason a bit by surprise, but Tommy considered unarmed fighting to be his forte. If nothing else, it felt more comfortable than using a foreign weapon like a club.

He pushed the advantage Jason's momentary surprise had given him. He was able to block the next few attacks from Jason and eventually succeeded in disarming him. When Jason inevitably tried to reassert control over the fight, Tommy was ready for him and met his next attack with a flurry of jumping kicks. Jason blocked these easily and seized the very first possible opening he saw, lunging past Tommy's guard with a powerful punch.

Unfortunately for him, this was what Tommy had hoped he would do. Rather than being struck, Tommy dodged quickly to one side and quickly executed a low spinning kick that caught Jason by surprise and sent him tumbling to the ground.

The score was now tied, one to one, with not much time left. Tommy was not sure whether a tie would be considered good enough, and hoped for a miracle victory. It wasn't going to be easy to beat Jason, especially now that Jason knew to be more careful going into this final round.

This time, Jason seemed to have forgotten his orders to act like the Rangers' enemies. This time was more like fighting the Jason he knew from back in Angel Grove. They fought each other with lightning quick moves, dodging or blocking at the last second, flowing across and around the ring.

The timer chimed, but although that was the official signal for the test to be over, no one paid any attention to it.

By now Tommy was sweating profusely in the heat of the afternoon, wishing that the test had not required him to wear the padded armor, and hoping to find a way to end it quickly. Preferably in a way that did not involve losing or otherwise throwing the match.

It turned out that Jason was really good when he wasn't trying to act like the elders' idea of a bad guy. Tommy found it really challenging, almost thrilling, to compete against him. Almost before he knew it, Jason had him backed up against one of the boundary lines... but not for long.

Tommy hurriedly flipped out of the way before Jason could push him out of bounds. It would have been easier, and less showy, to simply roll or dive out of the way, but he did not want to take any chances. He wasn't sure if a deliberate roll across the ground would count as a point against him or not, but figured it was better not to risk it. Not when his future depended on winning this fight.

He was not sure when he had started feeling as if his life depended on the outcome of this one fight, and decided not to worry about that now. He would have plenty of time to ponder the weirdness of his current situation after he won this fight.

With that in mind, he returned his attention to the fight with renewed effort. His flip had put him in a good position, if he could manage to be quick and strong enough to get past Jason's defenses. And with any luck that wouldn't be as difficult as it sounded.

They were both moving a little slower than normal, because it was damn hot fighting in the sun like this and they had been going at it for a while now. And Tommy had a secret trump card: he knew all, or at least most, of Jason's basic moves and favorite strategies. He knew Jason's finishing moves. And he knew how to beat and avoid them.

He almost felt bad doing it, because it really wasn't fair. He did it anyway, because this was important.

He let his guard down.

But this time Jason didn't go for the obvious opening. He waited a moment, let Tommy appear to regain his composure, and then went for a more straightforward series of attacks.

Tommy put up little resistance. He evaded and parried what he could, only throwing in enough attacks of his own to make Jason believe he was wearing down, but still in it to win the fight. Every time he avoided a kick or strike from Jason, he made sure to move backward. It was a calculated risk, letting Jason back him into a corner again, hoping he was judging the distance to the boundary line behind him correctly. But it paid off.

As they drew closer to the corner, with one boundary line to his left and another just behind him, Jason knew there would only be one way for Tommy to go, and he wasn't about to let him escape so easily. And that was what Tommy was counting on.

As Jason blocked the more obvious escape route to his right, Tommy slipped past him on the other side, skirting carefully past the boundary line. There was enough room, but only just barely. He made it past Jason without stepping out of bounds. Jason pivoted to follow his movements, but Tommy was already halfway around him again. This time it was Jason between Tommy and the out of bounds line. A well-timed push sent him reeling. He recovered quickly, but it was too late.

There was a collective gasp from the small audience as the match was suddenly called in Tommy's favor. Jason stared in disbelief, but could not deny the obvious: he had stepped out of bounds.

Tommy turned to Jason with a grin. "Good match," he said appreciatively. "We should do that again sometime."

"Yeah," Jason replied vaguely.

It was a bit unnerving to see Jason being so openly wary and unfriendly, but then again he supposed that coming in out of nowhere and beating him in a fight wasn't a very good way to make friends with someone like Jason. The Jason he knew back in Angel Grove would've simply given him a high five and laughingly sworn vengeance for next time. This one seemed more inclined to remain aloof and glare at him suspiciously.

At least, Tommy reflected, he had one person on his side, even if that person was Kimberly. She was waiting for him just outside the ring, all smiles in the face of his surprise victory.

"You won!" she cheered, exuberant, as she handed him a towel and a canteen of water that she had been hanging onto since they headed outside for the combat trial.

"Yeah, I did," Tommy commented more soberly, looking over to where the elders were once again debating furiously amongst themselves. "But they don't look very happy about it."

"They're not," Kimberly said with a sigh. When he met her gaze, she looked a little worried and explained, "You just beat their best fighter."


	10. Chapter 10

In the end, the Elders relented. As grumbly and grumpy as they were about it, they had little choice. They just couldn't pass up a candidate with Tommy's talents.

So they escorted him back into the Stronghold, to a secret room that must have been in the very center of the complex, told him to sit at the large table that occupied most of the room, and laid out the contract in front of him. They didn't force him to sign or anything, but they handed him an old fashioned pen and waited expectantly until he had signed his name on the line.

He felt surprisingly nervous about it; he had understood very little of what the contract said. But like it or not, he was a Ranger now. Or at least a trainee-Ranger. He had thought he would feel more excited about it once it was all official, but he didn't. Instead, he felt like he'd just signed a deal with the devil.

He had hoped that he would have a chance to talk with Kimberly and Jason after he signed his contract, but the elders had a different plan in mind: his training was to begin as soon as possible. And since he had nothing to bring in or unpack, except the clothes he was wearing, that meant now.

First he was given a key and given a guide, a boy he didn't recognize. The boy showed him to a door, and told him that by order of the elders this was the room he would call home for the duration of his stay at the Stronghold. As his guide whisked him off even further into the 'Hold, he was suddenly certain he would never remember where to find that room again and cursed his terrible memory. Never one to be easily deterred, he put the key in a pocket anyway and followed dutifully after his guide.

Thus began Tommy's tour of the Angel's Grove Stronghold. His guide took him through it from top to bottom, showing him where to find the cafeteria and infirmary, the different wings of dormitory-style rooms where the Rangers lived, where to find the various training facilities, where the exits - both on ground level and on top of the building - were.

His head was spinning as he tried to remember all of this, and it was just beginning. He was passed off to another guide, who appeared to be somewhat older than the first, and soon found himself in a new area of the Stronghold, which he had not seen before.

"The armory," his new guide explained.

Here he was outfitted with a saber (which pleased him more than he was willing to admit), then tested for aptitude and grudgingly given a strange gun like the one Trini had been pointing at him when he first woke up in the middle of the desert. The man who was doling out weaponry, who seemed to be in charge of the armory, also gave Tommy a bow and quiver before sending him off to an empty locker to store his things.

After he had stowed his new gear and made sure to memorize the number and location of his locker, as his guide was leading him out of the armory, the man gave him a warning: "Your training starts tomorrow, bright and early. Don't be late."

The next stop was the tailor. The tailor was a bubbly, middle-aged woman, completely the opposite of the icy, harsh man from the armory. She gave Tommy several new sets of clothes, and took his measurements so she could begin work on a patrol uniform for him as soon as possible.

By the time he thought to wonder what time it was, as his watch had stopped working and there were no windows or clocks that he could see within the 'Hold, his guide only told him that it was past dinner time. But luckily the tailor seemed to be their last stop of the day, because Tommy soon found himself standing in the entry to the cafeteria and waving good-bye to his guide.

The cafeteria was an enormous room with very high ceilings. It was kind of spooky now, when it was mostly empty. A few tables toward the back had people around his age, other Rangers, he assumed, sitting at them and talking quietly. Nearby, the large double doors to the kitchens were open, so that those that had missed dinner might fend for themselves.

"Hey," a voice called from his left.

Tommy turned. It was Kimberly, of course.

"They're finally done with you?" she asked.

Wandering over to the small alcove where she was sitting, Tommy noticed that she had food. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until just now. "Yeah, I guess so," he agreed, sitting opposite her.

"I figured they'd take their time," she said. "So I saved some food for you."

It wasn't what he was used to. In fact, he wasn't even quite sure what it was, but he was hungry enough not to care. Kimberly said it was food, so that meant it was edible and he was going to eat it.

She smiled as she watched him chow down. "Slow down, it's not going anywhere," she promised.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, but he made an effort to make himself look more like a gentleman and less like a pig.

When he had demolished the last of the food, she took a few moments to move the dirty dishes out of the way before finally getting to what she was actually after. "So, where'd they put you?"

It took him a bit to realize she was talking about the room he'd been assigned. Naturally, he couldn't remember where that was... but he did remember getting a key. "I don't remember," he admitted, digging in his pocket for the key. Kimberly gave him a curious look until he planted the key on the table. "But they did give me this key. Does that help?"

Kimberly picked up the key, looked it over for a second, and sighed. "Oh."

That did not sound good. Tommy gingerly accepted the key when she handed it back. "What is it?"

She gave him a wry look. "This explains why they kept me busy all day. They didn't want me to notice that they're bunking you with Jason." Her expression suggested she would have much preferred to have him share a room with her.

Tommy groaned. He had not realized he was going to have a roommate. He probably should have thought to ask about that. "He's going to kill me in my sleep, isn't he?"

Kimberly giggled. "Let's hope not. Come on, I'll show you the way."


	11. Chapter 11

_Three months later..._

* * *

"This is a very bad idea." Tommy did not say it, but he definitely thought it. Three months of intensive Ranger training had taught him the dangers of talking back to the Elders, so although he kept his mouth shut he allowed himself to mentally question their judgment.

Kimberly, on the other hand, seemed elated.

That, of course, was the problem. She had taken an immediate liking to him from the moment they first met. His months spent living and training in the 'Hold had done little to diminish that. And his decision to walk the line between keeping her as a friend and ally on the one side, and avoiding her increasingly inventive romantic advances - without hurting her - on the other, had him feeling like he was teetering on a razor-thin tight-rope. One push and it would all come tumbling down.

And now that he had reached an important milestone in his training, the Elders wanted Kimberly to act as his flight instructor. Everything in him screamed _bad idea_ at the very thought of being alone with her, in the air and with no means of escape, but he simply nodded and accepted the Elders' decision... and thought to himself that Kimberly and Ms. Appleby, who had delivered the announcement in person, looked entirely too pleased with themselves.

He had the sudden impression that people in the 'Hold were conspiring against him. Knowing his luck, they were. This was probably not going to end well. He forced back a sigh.

"So," he began, "when do we start?"

As sweet and innocent as could be, Kimberly suggested, "Now?"


	12. Chapter 12

With practiced ease, Kimberly brought the airship to life. Tommy watched carefully as she flipped switches and warned him which gauges to keep an eye on. He had covered all this information during his previous training at the 'Hold, of course, but seeing it happen in real life was entirely different from reading about it in a textbook or working with a model.

As he watched Kimberly's demonstration, he filed the information away into the same part of his brain that had always immediately absorbed the knowledge of how to pilot his many Zords during his stint as a Power Ranger. That part of his life was starting to feel alarmingly distant, and that feeling only grew stronger as he spent more time in this new world. He felt almost guilty for fitting in so well at the 'Hold, and devoting himself to joining their Ranger program when he could have been searching more actively for a way to get back home.

But even as he felt guilty about his failure to find a way home, he found the mechanics of the airships here too fascinating to pass up. By the time they actually lifted off of the compound's roof, he felt like he had the gist of the controls.

They flew east for a while as Kimberly continued to explain the ship's inner workings in detail. After about an hour, she glanced over at him with a mischievous look in her eyes and asked, "Want to give it a try?"

Of course he did, and they both knew it.

The ship had no automatic piloting system, something she quickly assured him that Billy was working on, so making the switch required good timing. Once Tommy was seated in the pilot's chair and had taken the controls, he thought Kimberly would head over to take up the co-pilot's position, but she lingered next to him instead.

They continued on their eastern course without incident for a long time. The weather was good and even though the land below him was a desert wasteland, Tommy found himself enjoying the chance to explore beyond the 'Hold. He had just spotted a strange cluster of mesas slightly to the north when Kimberly instructed him to take the airship lower. He had a bad feeling about that mess, and sure enough, Kimberly pointed and said, "I want you to head over there."

"What is it?" he asked.

"The elders call it the training ground," she explained. "It's kind of a trial by fire for new pilots."

He had been afraid she was going to say something like that, but at the same time he was pleased to have the chance to really prove himself. And really, after piloting as many Zords as he had, how hard could it be?

As he guided the ship toward the training ground, he thought of something. "How come you don't use these for your patrols?"

"We do," Kimberly told him. "How do you think we do long-range surveillance? And we use them when we need to pick up injured Rangers, and for some other things, like when the elders wanted to bring you, me, and Trini in for questioning when we first found you. The gliders are just easier and less - how did Billy put it? - _resource intensive_ for close-range missions."

Tommy supposed that made sense. From what he had seen, resources like fuel were pretty scarce in this ruined version of the Earth, and the gliders had the advantage of being able to glide for long distances without using any fuel at all while the airships were engine-powered.

The airship's cockpit was quiet and tense as Tommy guided the ship into the training course. They were so low now that stone loomed close on both sides, plunging the cockpit into shade.

Occasionally, Kimberly would give him some small bit of advice or a specific direction to take, but for the most part both of them remained silent. Fortunately, the air was calm around the ship, with only a faint breeze and the slightest hint of turbulence. All of the ship's many gauges remained well within the safe zones, and Tommy was able to keep the ship safely away from any of the obstacles without a problem. It was nerve-wracking trying to keep the ship on course without bumping into anything and potentially puncturing the airbag that kept it aloft, but it wasn't nearly as difficult a test as he had thought it might be.

"So, did I pass?" he asked as they emerged into open air on the other side of the training course.

"You're a natural," Kimberly murmured. "Are you sure you've never flown one of these before?"

"I've just always been pretty good with machines," he told her. He had to try very hard to ignore the way she had practically draped herself over his shoulder.

"Well, that was the easy course," Kimberly went on. "We should probably head back soon. This was just a basic assessment of your skills, so we can see where you're at as a pilot and how much work we'll need to do to get you up to speed. Tomorrow we'll start working on the real training."

He recalled a question he had been meaning to ask. "Am I ever going to fly one of the gliders?"

Kimberly laughed. "You're way too big for a glider. But you showed so much promise in the written exams - and you kept saying how much you wanted to fly - that the elders wanted to get you up in the air as soon as possible, to see what you could really do."

It always felt odd to him to hear that the elders believed in him. They were uniformly stern to him when he encountered them. "Really?"

This time she smiled reassuringly. "Really. Now let's turn this bird around. After the training course, this should be easy..."

And it was, but as he turned the airship around to head for the 'Hold, he caught sight of an unusual rock formation in the desert to the northwest. "Hey, Kim, what's that?"

She had to glance back to see what he was talking about. "Oh, that. It's just one of the Slags."

He steered the ship well clear of the training course; he might have passed his beginner's test with flying colors but he had no desire to try working the course in reverse. "Slags?"

She sighed, and went to sit in the co-pilot's chair. He had become so used to having her in close proximity that it felt weird now that she wasn't right beside him.

"I thought they were tutoring you in history."

"They are," he said, glad to have the conversation to help keep his mind off other things. "But hearing about something and seeing it are totally different."

"Well, there it is. One of the places where the End began," Kimberly said, her voice turning sour.

Tommy couldn't resist giving the distant Slag a long, hard look, and remembering just how lucky his own world had been. In this world, he'd learned, Rita Repulsa had come to an unprotected Earth and destroyed the human civilization she found there, ruining much of the ecosystem in the process. At least his world had had a fighting chance.

For the first time, he wondered if this world had had a Zordon and a Command Center. If he was going to find a clue that could get him home, it would be at the Command Center. He'd avoided thinking about it in the past, because he had no chance of finding it on foot, if it even existed. But with an airship, he could make the trip for sure. All he would have to do would be to figure out where to look.

It seemed like a great plan until he remembered the catch: he wouldn't be allowed to take one of the airships out alone for a long time. If he wanted to find the Command Center, he was going to have to spend a lot more time training with Kimberly, and he was going to have to come up with a way to convince her to go along with his plan. And that worried him, and not just because she would probably think he was crazy if he tried to explain where he had come from.

Spending time with Kimberly was going to be a problem.

When he had first come here, he had resolved not to get emotionally entangled with anyone, least of all another version of Kimberly. And for the most part he had stood by that resolution so far. But in spite of his best efforts, she was starting to get under his skin.

It was the little things, the murmured words and casual touches, that were really getting to him.

And the more time he spent here, with her, the more he realized that she wasn't the Kimberly that had broken his heart at all. It was confusing to have to deal with people that looked and acted like his old friends from Angel Grove, especially when one of them was Kimberly. They were all starting to blur together in his head until he wasn't quite sure: if he started dating this Kimberly, what did that say about his relationship with the other Kimberly? Did it even matter?

If he ever got home, he would never see this Kimberly again. If he never found a way home, he'd never have to worry about the other one again.

But this Kimberly was here now, and it was obvious that she was interested in him. He couldn't deny that he was interested in her, too, and he was starting to wonder if it was fair not to give her a chance just because she looked like his ex. Having a girlfriend again after all this time didn't sound like such a bad idea, even though there was a little voice in his head, that sounded a lot like his conscience, that kept telling him that getting romantically involved with Kimberly again was the stupidest thing he could possibly do right now.

Tommy caught sight of the Stronghold in the distance and shook himself free of his distracted thoughts. As he guided the airship home, he glanced at Kimberly, who was steadfastly refusing to look at him. No matter what he chose to do next, it might not end well. He would just have to choose and hope for the best.


	13. Chapter 13

No sooner had the Hold come into sight than the airship's radio crackled to life. "Kimberly, we've got a problem. Do you copy?" The voice belonged to Trini.

Kimberly scrambled for the radio microphone. "I copy. Tommy and I just finished his training exercise. We're on our way back to the Hold. What's going on?"

"Jason and Zack radioed in a few minutes ago to say they'd found something weird out your way. I'd like you to go check it out and provide support if necessary. If you're close to the Hold, you can drop Tommy off here first and pick up a more experienced co-pilot..."

"Won't be a problem," Kimberly said. "Tommy's more than competent enough for this." With one hand covering the mic, she turned to Tommy and ordered, "Turn her around. We're needed back east."

While Tommy took care of that, she turned back to her conversation with Trini and obtained the coordinates they were heading for. With that accomplished, she slipped out of her seat and went to the back of the cabin, where extensive maps were pinned to the wall. He gave her a few minutes to chart the coordinates, then asked, "So where are we heading?"

"A spot pretty much due south from the training grounds," she replied, plopping back into the co-pilot's seat. "If Jason and Zack say there's trouble, then there probably is."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Based on the coordinates, I'd guess slave trafficking. We've had some trouble out that way before."

Tommy did not need to ask what kind of trouble she meant. He remembered Trini's initial reaction to him, her readiness to kill him on the spot if he was involved with one of the 'slave lords', all too well. And if two of the Hold's most accomplished Rangers were asking for backup, the situation would have to be something pretty intense.

The air in the cockpit was tense as Kimberly gave him directions to the rendezvous site. Even though Tommy knew they were covering a lot of ground, it still felt as if it would take far too long to get to where they were needed. If there was a conflict with slave traders, Jason and Zack could be captured or dead by the time he and Kimberly finally got there.

"Why are Jason and Zack out there together?" he ventured finally just to break the tense silence. "I thought patrol teams were made up of a man on foot and a woman with a glider..."

"They're working a double patrol. That route has a lot of ground to cover, and it's been quite dangerous in the past, so they send two teams. Zack's officially partnered with Katherine and Jason's with Aisha," Kimberly told him. "Don't you ever read the patrol rosters?"

He did not, except to see when Jason was going to be out of the Hold on patrol and he would have their shared room to himself. He'd never really paid attention to who got paired with whom, figuring it didn't really concern him since he hadn't completed his training yet. "So where are the girls?"

"Probably flying reconnaissance."

"And we're going to...?"

"See what's going on, and pull them out of there if we need to," Kimberly said, in the clipped tone that told him she was very worried for her friends.

He felt much the same way. Suddenly his half-formed idea of starting a relationship with Kimberly seemed utterly foolish. They had far more important work to do as Rangers right now, like getting their friends out of a potentially deadly situation. There would be time for personal lives later, or at least that was what he told himself. After all, it wasn't like they had to save the world or anything. They just had to go pick up their friends.

So he let the cabin fall silent, trusting that Kimberly would tell him anything he needed to know before it came up. They had miles to go yet, and he needed to concentrate on staying on course and making good time.

This day wasn't turning out at all like he had thought it would. He had felt fairly confident earlier, when he had mastered the training course with such ease, but now he felt only trepidation and the worry that he and Kimberly wouldn't make it in time to help. But then again, when the day started he'd been expecting a training exercise... not his first mission as a Ranger.


	14. Chapter 14

Far ahead of the airship and far below, the desert shimmered in the afternoon heat. Tommy slumped in the pilot's seat, trying to ignore Kimberly's tense pacing behind him. He didn't have to ask to know she was nearly frantic with worry. So was he. Their friends were out there somewhere, and they were probably in danger.

Tommy wished he had a better idea of where they were going and what they - and their friends - might be up against. Would he and Kimberly make it in time to find their friends alive? He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer, but couldn't help feeling impatient and frustrated anyway. If there was one thing he missed from his real world, it was teleportation. The desert all looked the same to him, making it hard to gauge how fast they were moving or how much ground they had covered. It was almost as bad as not knowing what was going on in the first place.

Behind him, Kimberly muttered something angrily, her words lost in the drone of the airship's engine.

A moment later, he thought he could make out the shapes of people on the ground in the distance. That must have been what set her off, but it looked like a lot more people than just the wayward Rangers. Worse, he couldn't see any gliders in the air. He wondered, horrified, if he'd gone off course, or if something had gone wrong. "Kim…"

She stood beside him, radiating tension. When he risked a glance in her direction, she seemed ready to snap.

"Kimberly," he repeated.

"If any of them are hurt, I swear…"

"Kimberly," he said again, and this time she almost seemed to hear him. "Tell me what to do." That definitely got through to her.

As if snapping out of a trance, she stepped over to lean over him and walked him through stopping the airship's forward motion. By the time they were above the people they had seen on the ground earlier, the ship was moving so slowly that it was essentially hovering.

"Now what?"

She strode purposefully away from him, heading toward the back of the ship. "I'm going down."

Tommy glanced over his shoulder to follow her progress, then quickly turned his gaze straight ahead again. Behind him, and without even warning him about what she was doing, Kimberly had stripped out of her ordinary clothes and was in the process of pulling on the leather flight suit she had been wearing when he first met her, or one very like it. He wasn't entirely sure where she'd gotten it from.

He wasn't sure it mattered at all, as he attempted to wrap his mind around the image of a half-undressed and completely unself-conscious Kimberly.

When she had finished getting dressed, she came to stand beside him again.

"Just hold the ship steady," she instructed. "I'll take care of the rest."

"What are you going to do?"

"I told you," she said, impatient. "I'm going down there. You just hold the ship steady."

He could tell she was still frightened and angry, so he didn't take offense at her tone. Or at being told to stay put, even though the last thing he wanted to do was let her go down there alone. If it was going to come to a fight, he wanted to be there with her. But somehow he knew she wouldn't let him get away with that.

And besides, he had to admit they couldn't take the chance of the unmanned ship getting away. Or worse, crashing. "Okay."

She met his gaze and stared at him for a long moment, though he had no idea what she was looking for, before turning away.

Before she could get out of the cockpit, he said, "Kim."

To his surprise, she actually turned back. "What?" she asked, her tone surprisingly gentle. He'd half expected her to snap at him.

"Be careful."

She smiled, but her face looked more fierce than friendly. "Always."


	15. Chapter 15

It felt like Tommy waited forever, floating above the desert, waiting to hear from Kimberly - or anyone - what had happened. He couldn't see what was going on directly beneath the airship and the radio was ominously silent, so he had no clue what the situation was.

Then, out of nowhere, he caught sight of something in the sky. A lone glider approached from the east. Katherine and Aisha would have both had gliders. So where was the second one?

The radio crackled sharply, nearly startling him out of his skin. "You're a sight for sore eyes," Katherine commented, her voice nearly lost in the rushing of the wind. She was the one in the glider, then.

"Where's Aisha?" Tommy radioed back.

"Lost her glider the other day," Kat told him. "There was an accident. It happens sometimes. The thing was junk after that. She's fine, though, as far as I know."

That made him feel a bit better, at least. "Any idea what's going on down there?"

"Hard to say. I'll get back to you when I'm on the ground," Katherine responded.

After that, it was just Tommy and the ominous silence again for several long minutes. As Katherine descended and landed her glider, he even lost sight of that.

It was hard to just sit and do nothing. After an eternity his radio crackled back to life. It was Kat again. "We're coming up, and we've got refugees. Hold her steady, these people haven't used an airship before," she instructed. Tommy did his best to obey.

He had never imagined that his first real flight would turn into this. Whatever this was. A rescue mission, he realized. And not just for Jason and the other Rangers, but for all the innocent people they'd rescued. It was suddenly starting to sink in why Trini had seemed so convinced that he might be a spy or a slave trader when she first found him out in the desert.

It was only a few more minutes before Jason entered the cockpit. His face was haggard. He looked exhausted.

He dropped himself into the copilot's chair without a word. Tommy fought against the urge to ask questions, knowing he wouldn't get an answer yet. His best bet, he knew, would be to ask Kimberly about it later.

It was several minutes before Kat came over the radio again. "Everyone's on board and the ladder's been retracted. You're good to go. I'm going to run one more sweep to make sure we didn't miss any stragglers, and then I'll be along."

Tommy radioed back an acknowledgement and started to turn the airship around. It was hard to keep his mind focused on piloting the ship when he kept sneaking glances over at Jason, who was as stoically silent as ever and also appeared to be covered in dried blood. Where had the blood come from? Kimberly had told him that strange and dangerous creatures stalked the desert. She had even showed him sketches of them. But he had not seen any sign of those. All he'd seen during the approach was people.

That was something he did not particularly want to think about.

Luckily, Kimberly came back into the cockpit while he was deciding not to think about it anymore, providing him with a convenient distraction. He hoped that she would fill him in on what was going on, but instead she went to Jason, crouching low beside him and whispering. "You did what you had to," she murmured soothingly.

Tommy kept his eyes straight ahead, occasionally dropping his gaze to check the instruments arrayed around him. What he really wanted to do was stare at Jason and Kim, but he knew he shouldn't intrude. Whatever was going on, they clearly thought it wasn't any of his business. And he supposed that meant it wasn't any of his business.

He listened in on them anyway. At this point, he would take any clue he could get as to what was going on.

"The elders will understand," Kim went on. "They always do. They know what it's like out there. They're as opposed to the slave trafficking as you and Trini -"

"Don't you think I know that?" Jason cut in. His tone was so harsh that Tommy couldn't help but glance over in alarm.

Quietly, Kimberly said, "Those people think you're a hero. Maybe you should try acting like it instead of sulking in here." She stalked out on that note, leaving Jason to seethe. He was remarkably good at it. Tommy knew better than to butt in, so he kept his mouth shut and his eyes forward.

It was going to be a long flight back to the 'Hold.


	16. Chapter 16

Somewhere between that God-forsaken spot in the desert and the 'Hold, Tommy pieced together the fragmented bits of what had happened. He hadn't meant to; it happened almost of its own accord.

Jason and the other Rangers had stumbled upon a group of slave traders transporting their human cargo across the desert. Tommy could not know for certain, because he had not had an opportunity to meet any of the airship's new passengers, but somehow he knew that none of the slave traders had been taken prisoner. They were all dead, and it was Jason that had done the deed. He didn't like to think about it, but it would explain everything he'd seen and heard so far.

The Jason he knew from back home would never have killed another human being, no matter what kind of scum that human being was. He would have let the proper authorities deal with the situation. Tommy wondered who the proper authorities were out here in the wastelands. Glancing over toward Jason, he had a feeling he knew.

By the time they reached the 'Hold, Tommy was in a daze. Kimberly returned to the cockpit about twenty minutes before their arrival to radio the 'Hold a warning and to instruct him on the proper landing procedure, but she was gone before the ship had been fully moored. When Jason got silently up from the co-pilot's chair and stalked out, Tommy followed at a safe distance.

Most of the elders, as well as Trini, Billy, and a crew that was hard at work securing the airship, were in attendance. All together, they had rescued eight people from the slavers. Every one of them looked hungry and dirty and terrified, but there were gratitude and admiration on their faces, too. They were glad to be alive and free.

Jason gave a brief report of what had happened, confirming Tommy's fears, and then disappeared into the 'Hold. Feeling suddenly conscious of how much about this place he didn't know, Tommy fell in with Zack, Aisha, and Kimberly to help escort the refugees to the mess hall. There, Kimberly informed him in a whisper, they would be given much-needed food, water, and medical attention - and would be kept where they could do no harm until the elders figured out what to do with them. Tommy remembered that process well, though he guessed it would be easier for these newcomers because nobody thought they were spies or slave traders.

A few hours later, after everything was settled and he'd scrounged up a meal, Tommy went in search of Kimberly. It took some doing, but he finally found her on the roof, seated at the very western edge with her legs dangling over the side. She held a mug of hot herbal tea in both hands and was watching the sun sink below the horizon.

For a moment he just stood there and watched her and breathed in the pleasant scent of her tea.

"Hey," he said quietly after a while, just to let her know he was there.

She twisted to look at him. "Hey."

Taking that to mean he should join her, he took a seat beside her. "You're a hard woman to find," he told her.

She raised a brow and took a defiant sip of her tea before answering. "Really," she murmured.

"I was hoping you could let me know how I did today," he said, and that was at least partly true. "This was my first time flying that bird."

She smiled weakly. "You're a natural, Tommy. You fly like you've been doing it your whole life. There aren't many first-timers that could do what you did today. At least not as well as you did it."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," he muttered.

She did not rise to the bait. Instead, she asked, "Where are you really from, Tommy?"

Suddenly he understood why his piloting skill bothered her: it made him look suspicious all over again, at least so far as the elders were concerned. He didn't for a moment doubt Kimberly's faith in him, not really.

He sighed. "I don't think anybody would believe me if I told," he admitted. "But it's... very different from here."

She seemed to accept that, so he changed the subject. "This kind of thing, with the slave traders, does it happen often?"

"No. Most of them have learned our routes by now and know to avoid them. And the ones that don't, well, you heard what happened."

He had, but he still didn't quite believe it. Even thinking all the way back to the dark days when he'd been Rita's evil Green Ranger, he'd never seriously considered the idea that Jason could be a real threat to, well, anything. The guy was just too good at heart, a big softy, a shining example of all that Zordon and the Power Rangers stood for.

But that was a different Jason, as he'd been forcibly reminded today. This Jason was a product of another world. This one fought dirty when he had to and killed his enemies when he could, because in this world it was the only way to be sure of victory.

Tommy wondered if this Earth had once had a Zordon, if it had had Power Rangers. Somehow he knew it did not have those things now.

Since he could not ask her the questions he really wanted to ask, he asked, "Where were they taking those people?"

"They have their own strongholds, out there. I don't know how they survive, but they do. I guess it's because slavery's been illegal since the End, so they come out here because they can't get away with it anywhere else." She sighed and set down her mug. "We destroy their 'holds when we find them, but it never seems like enough. There're always people we can't save, and there's always more scum to keep the trade going." Another sigh. "Jason's going to be hell to deal with after this. He doesn't handle it well when he has to..." she trailed off sadly.

Tommy almost resisted the automatic urge to wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her close, but she really looked in need of a friend so he did it anyway. She leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder, and he tried not to think about how natural it felt to sit together like that. It reminded him too much of another time, another place, another Kimberly, and that threatened to give him a headache.

Not for the first time, he found himself wondering about this mysterious End that she sometimes mentioned. Nobody else spoke of it at all, and if he asked all he could get out of anyone was that it was something that had happened nearly 150 years before his arrival. And no one at all talked about how it had come to have that name, or what had existed before the End. It seemed very odd to him to begin with the ending like that, but no one in the 'Hold seemed willing to question it, not even Billy. It was simply the way things were, and there was nothing he could do about that.

So he let that bit of curiosity go for now. And he let go, too, of the shock and pain of knowing that in this world, Jason Lee Scott was a man who killed his enemies and could only dream of a better path. He would have time to deal with all of that later - and he realized suddenly that he would take care of it. But right now, Kimberly needed a friend, so he would content himself with giving her a shoulder to lean on and watching the day come to an end.

The rest could wait.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot believe it's been nearly 2 years since I updated this story... I'm really sorry about that, and will try to be better about updating in the future! I'm hoping to finish this thing within the next year or two.

If it had been awkward bunking with Jason at first, it was worse now. Back then, Tommy had been the too-good-to-be-true newcomer, suspicious to everyone in the 'Hold up to and including his unwilling new roommate. During his months of training, he and Jason had come to an unspoken understanding and a mutual respect that bordered on actual friendship.

Now that fragile understanding was being pushed to its limit. Tommy was trying frantically to stop it from falling apart under the strain, but the fact remained: his roommate was a killer. And that was tough for Tommy to get past.

Worse, it was a sore spot for Jason, too. He hated killing. It was obvious the necessity of it tore him up inside even as he didn't see another path to victory; he refused to talk to anyone but Trini for days afterward, and even her best efforts couldn't seem to shake him out of it. Tommy gathered from the wary but resigned reactions of Kimberly, Zack, and the other Rangers that this wasn't out of the ordinary.

In Jason's place, Tommy liked to think it wouldn't come to killing, that he'd find a way to resolve the conflict peacefully. Deep down, he wasn't so sure. How long, he wondered, until I'm forced into the same situation? If the lives of innocent people were at stake, could he kill another human being to save them?

Trini found him in a corner of the cafeteria, mulling over his dark thoughts and wishing vaguely that he could get a hold of some alcohol. Being underage back home, and generally a law-abiding person, he hadn't indulged much. It just seemed like a good idea right about now. Better than dwelling on whether or not he had it in him to be a murderer, at least.

"I'd ask if you're okay," Trini began, "but I'm pretty sure you're not."

He honestly hadn't been expecting her. She hadn't taken very well to his addition to her team of Rangers, and had never really warmed up to him the way Kimberly had. And on top of that, she seemed to have her hands pretty full, between taking care of Jason and helping the elders out.

Rather than answer, he grunted noncommittally.

Trini rolled her eyes slightly and sat down uninvited across the small table from him. "You're worrying Kim, you know," she went on.

"Yeah, I know."

"And you're not accomplishing anything," she added for good measure.

"I know that, too."

She smiled in an exasperated sort of way. "You're _exactly_ like him, you know." He didn't have to ask to know she meant Jason. "Getting so caught up in dreams of making peace…" She fixed him with a look he couldn't read. "I'm starting to think you really aren't a spy."

"Because I'm not handling it well that I have to share a room with a killer?" he asked.

She chuckled mirthlessly. "Because the thought makes you squeamish," she admitted.

"Oh, well that makes me feel better," he muttered.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you're going to have to toughen up if you want to make it here." Tommy realized what that strange look on her face was. It was a haunted look. Something had happened to her in the past, something very bad. Something that made her think killing wasn't such a bad thing, not when it was the bad guys being killed.

For a bewildered moment he wondered what it would take to turn gentle, pacifist Trini into someone like this, someone cold and practical and unfazed by the thought of shooting an enemy. Someone that wouldn't risk trying to turn an enemy into a friend. Then he realized he probably didn't want to know.

"The elders are looking for crew for the winter supply run," Trini went on, ignoring the look of horrified confusion that had undoubtedly appeared on Tommy's face. "I'm going to recommend they take you."

If he hadn't been confused before, he was now. "Why me?"

She shrugged. "Many reasons. You're new and you've never gone on a supply run before, for one thing," she pointed out. "You'll need to know what it entails and this will be a good learning opportunity. You'll get to see one of the cities." She paused emphatically. "And if you want out, it'll give you a chance to run."

He glowered back at her. "What makes you think I want to run away?"

Her gaze was level, her eyes piercing. "Every new Ranger deserves a chance to get out if they want it."

By which you mean no one ever gave you a choice, he realized. He'd been annoyed with her for interrupting his solitude at first, and then for comparing him so unfavorably to Jason. Now he just felt sympathy. _What happened to you, Trini?_ he wondered. Somehow he knew he'd have better luck bringing it up with Kimberly.

"It's different when you're just being taught about what Rangers do," she went on, her tone more gentle than before, almost wistful. "And then you get out there and you realize it's not just a hypothetical. You'll have to kill things. And sometimes the things you have to kill will be people. And you don't have the time to decide whether it's right or wrong. If you hesitate, you'll die. Or the people you're trying to protect will die."

Tommy stared down at his mug, long since emptied of the infernal herbal tea they drank so often here, and said nothing.

"It's okay if you're not cut out for this, Tommy," she went on. "Not everyone is."

"Jason did what he had to do," he murmured finally.

"Yes," Trini agreed. "But when the time comes, will you do the same?"

For a moment he thought he had her: "Billy never goes out on patrols. So don't tell me everyone here has to kill other people."

She stood up suddenly, planting her hands on the table firmly and staring down at him. It was the first time he'd ever seen true rage in Trini's eyes. "Billy is too valuable to risk on patrols. He's the best mind we have. Every weapon we have against the raider lords and the monsters that spawn out of the desert… every single one of them came from Billy. We almost lost him once, and it's not going to happen again. Without him, none of us would still be here."

Somehow, her anger was reassuring. There, underneath the flashfire rage, was the Trini he remembered from back home: the one that was fiercely protective of her friends and especially of Billy, the one that could be coaxed to fight only when her friends or her world were in immediate danger. The one that was equal parts furious and terrified because her friends and her world were _always_ in danger and there was nothing she could do about it.

"I'm not going anywhere," he told her, grinning.

Rage evaporated into confusion.

"I'm one of your best pilots," he told her. "And I know I'm the best fighter you've got right now. You can send me on this supply run if you want, but I'm telling you right now that I won't run away." He went on recklessly, "And maybe I'm a fool, but I know there's a better way than this. I know we can end this pointless war with the desert and we can stop the raider lords and the slave trade. Maybe right now there's so much evil in the world that even we can't avoid it, but we can change that. You can't convince me it's hopeless."

She sat down, smiling sadly. "Now you sound like Kimberly," she told him.

"Because she's right," he said. "There's always hope. And I'll prove it to you."

It was a bold promise, and not one he'd expected to make, least of all to Trini. He only hoped that when the time came he could back up those bold words.


	18. Chapter 18

In all, the elders chose five Rangers to make the winter supply run. Somehow, despite his newness and his low rank, Tommy really did end up on the list of Rangers slated to make the trip. He was somewhat surprised to see that Jason, Kimberly, and Zack had also made the list, and Adam rounded out the group. There were Rangers in the 'Hold he didn't recognize from his previous life in Angel Grove, but by chance he always seemed to fall in among the ones that he did know. It was odd, but thinking about it too much gave him a powerful headache, so he didn't think about it often and figured he was just drawn to anything that seemed remotely familiar.

When he mentioned his surprise at the group's makeup to Kimberly as they were helping stock the airship for the trip, she only laughed. "Trini gave up her spot for you, you know," she told him. "She and I make this trip just about every year…"

Seeing the perplexed and mildly horrified look on his face, she patted him reassuringly on the arm. "Trini believes every new Ranger should make this trip at least once," she said. Making a face as Zack passed by, she added playfully, "Though why she sent Zack along instead of coming herself, I'll never know."

"She's just jealous," Zack teased, eyeing Kimberly meaningfully. "With me around, she won't be the center of attention."

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "What he means is, he's a terrible _flirt_."

"Hey, I have to take my opportunities where I can find them," Zack protested. "This is the only chance I get where the elders aren't looking over my shoulder the whole time."

Kimberly gave Tommy a knowing look, but he just shrugged. How was he supposed to know what was normal for a trip like this?

They set out at dawn the next morning after a sleepless night. Tommy hadn't thought much about just how fast the airships could travel, but he was surprised to find out their flight would take all day. The nearest city of any size had seemed much closer on the maps back at the 'Hold.

Tommy's dismay amused the other Rangers, from which he gathered his ignorance was unusual. Then again, new Rangers had to come from _somewhere_ , and most of them came from the various cities and towns well beyond the Ranger safe zone. Kimberly and Zack fell into that category; they'd come to the 'Hold as children like so many others, orphaned or otherwise forced by circumstance into taking the risk of becoming a Ranger. Jason's circumstances were more unusual. He'd come to the 'Hold later, as a rebellious teenager, and his wealthy family had never forgiven him for it. Or so Kimberly said.

Tommy didn't feel comfortable asking for more information. He and Jason had been managing to coexist peacefully and he didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that. Still, he had a hard time picturing Jason rebelling against any kind of authority, especially that of his family. The Jason he knew was… not this Jason, he decided.

Unfortunately, he had plenty of time to think and wonder during the flight. They took turns piloting the airship, but in the meantime they had very little to do. Leisure was a luxury the Rangers seldom had, and they weren't very prepared for it when they got it.

Watching the countryside pass lazily by beneath them was fascinating at first, but Tommy could only stand to look at so much empty desert before it lost its charm completely. Distant mesas and dull brown sand all started to blend together, punctuated occasionally by stands of cacti that didn't quite look like anything he was used to from back home.

Then again, whatever apocalypse had created the End had also created monsters in the desert, or so he'd been warned. Why couldn't it have changed cacti, too?

The boredom that led him to wonder about possible magical mutations in cacti wasn't the worst part, though.

The worst part was Kimberly.

When he signed on as a Ranger, the Elders had made it perfectly clear that romantic relationships between Rangers were not just frowned upon, they were outright forbidden. Any Rangers that did not obey would be retired from service and sent back to civilization.

But what the Elders didn't know couldn't come back to haunt anyone that happened to break their rules. And now that she was out from under their watchful eyes for the next few days, she seemed determined to make sure Tommy knew just how interested she was in getting to know him better. _Much_ better.

Whether he chose to lounge on one of the benches that sat in rows near the center of the airship's hold, or to lean against the railing near the windows and watch the countryside go by, she always managed to be conspicuously near him. He would have enjoyed it if it weren't so unnerving.

Time had helped to heal the wounds of his breakup with Kimberly in that other world he'd come from, but he still remembered every word of that damn letter. And it was hard not to connect those words with this Kimberly, and even harder to decide what he ought to do about her obvious interest in him. The loneliness and alienation he felt in this strange place made it tempting to find solace in a familiar relationship… but he was always aware that this Kimberly might turn around and break his heart just as painfully as the other had.

The rational part of him knew that encouraging Kimberly was playing with fire and that he ought to insist on being only friends.

The part of him that was homesick yearned for the kind of comfort that came from knowing you were loved. He _knew_ Kimberly could give him that, though he couldn't let her know that. And he knew that she would. All he would have to do is let her.

Would the other Rangers disapprove? He wasn't sure.

Could they keep it a secret? That he was pretty sure they couldn't do. Oh, they'd try. But he'd been through this before and he knew the effect she could have on him. It would be written all over his face. Worse, it would wreak havoc on his concentration and memory and probably land him in trouble with the Elders. And then he'd have to explain, and he'd never been a good liar, not even when it came to his identity as a Power Ranger…

"What's that look for?" Kimberly asked suddenly. Her voice was sweet, and slightly amused. "You look like you just saw a ghost."

Tommy tried to pretend he hadn't just jumped a mile. He'd completely zoned her out, caught in his own thoughts. "Sorry," he said. "Just… thinking."

She leaned a little closer, almost touching his arm with her shoulder. "Bad things?"

He shrugged.

Her face betrayed a little worry. "Rethinking your decision?" she asked, her voice quiet so the others wouldn't hear.

That surprised him. He'd chosen to become a Ranger almost immediately, without fully realizing what that meant. And he hadn't really regretted it ever since, though the training hadn't exactly been exhilarating and there seemed to be no reward. "It's not that," he assured her. "I just… don't really know what to expect when we get to wherever it is we're going."

Kimberly smiled disarmingly. "It's not much. There are far bigger cities out there," she explained, "but Stone Canyon is where they send all the supplies for the Ranger teams. For us… it's the closest thing to civilization we ever get to see." She sounded a little wistful. He remembered a Kimberly that had liked nothing better than spending an afternoon at the mall.

She brightened. "But there's great food – actual, fresh food! And shopping, and…"

Tommy smiled in spite of himself. There was the Kimberly he recognized.

"You'll like it, I think," she concluded. "Don't ever tell Trini I said this, but I think she's right that every Ranger deserves a chance to get away and see what the rest of the world is like. Even if we'll never be a part of it…"

She'd never given him any particulars about how she'd come to the 'Hold, only saying vaguely that her parents had died and she'd been recruited sometime after. He'd always wondered, but never found a good time to ask. This didn't seem like a good time, either, but… "Do you ever wish you hadn't become a Ranger?"

She laughed quietly. "No. It was the only option. If I hadn't… I'd be out there somewhere, probably dead. Maybe selling myself for money. My parents were dead. I had no money, Tommy. I was nine years old. What else could I do?" She cut herself off, glancing in Jason's direction. "People like Jason, they're not the norm. Usually when people have money, they don't care what happens to the people who don't."

"I'm sorry," Tommy murmured. "That never should have happened to you."

She shrugged. "I was lucky. When they tested me, my arrow hit the mark. There were lots of kids who didn't pass."

Isolated at the 'Hold, it had been easy to pretend that the outside world would be just like the one he knew. Piece by piece, he knew that fantasy was going to be shattered in the course of this trip. Maybe that was why Trini had insisted he go. Or maybe she'd wanted to send him away for a while to get him out of her hair. Or maybe she'd been telling the truth, and she just wanted to give him a chance to choose another path before it was too late.

She probably didn't realize that it was already too late. It had been too late since they gave him the option to help.

It was doubly too late now that he'd seen Jason forced to kill and learned the truth of Kimberly's past. How could he leave them now?

He had to save them.

From what, he wasn't sure. Despair? Maybe. Or maybe something worse than that. He had to fix this somehow, no matter what. He was more sure of it with every day that passed.


	19. Chapter 19

Stone Canyon had outgrown its canyon. While Kimberly and Zack laughingly informed Tommy that the name had been accurate at one time and the city had been founded deep down within the namesake canyon, which initially protected it from the dangerous conditions beyond, it had exploded outward after the last rumblings of The End into the sprawling metropolis that lay beneath them now.

The city spread out for miles upon miles in every direction, a tangle of narrow streets and tall buildings. Some were well-built and stable on their foundations, but others were ramshackle and decrepit, looking as if they might fall apart at any moment. For some reason Tommy had expected the city to be as sere and brown and dull as the desert stronghold where the Rangers lived, but the streets and buildings were painted in a riot of colors. Even the people were dressed in brightly colored clothes, a stark contrast to the practical, sand-colored garments worn by the Rangers.

A few people paused to stare upward at the airship, pointing. Tommy was beginning to understand that such vessels were uncommon outside of the Ranger strongholds.

"Not just uncommon," Kimberly quipped when he said as much aloud. "They're totally unique. Billy designed every airship and glider we use."

Tommy resisted the urge to ask what the Rangers had used before Billy devised such ingenious vehicles for them. Had they simply used what passed for regulation airships before that? But there wasn't time for foolish questions now, because they were approaching an enormous building that he realized must be some sort of airship dock. It managed to be taller and more massive than any other building in Stone Canyon, jutting high above the city.

"Most of the ships the cityfolk use aren't as maneuverable as ours, so they have to park them up high to make it easier to get out of the city," Kimberly commented dismissively before heading off to help with the docking process. Tommy followed a moment later, feeling a little sad at leaving behind the overhead view of the sprawling city – civilization! – but knowing that as a Ranger he ought to help the others.

Docking the airship turned out to be a lesson in itself, even with the help of the Stone Canyon dockmen. Having a ship of their own that was sleeker, faster, and more maneuverable than most models was a point of pride for the Rangers. Unfortunately, non-Rangers weren't used to dealing with such devices, and the Rangers weren't keen on sharing their technology with the wider world. It wasn't until much later, when they had shrugged off the stiff antagonism of the dockmen, the city folk they passed, _and_ the innkeeper who had reluctantly agreed to host them, that Tommy found out why there was such antagonism between the city folk and the Rangers.

"Yeah," Adam muttered, throwing himself down on the small, lumpy bed that would be his for the next few days. The room was ridiculously tiny for even one person. For two, it was absurd. But Tommy kept that opinion to himself, settling on his own bed to listen to what Adam had to say. "Let people think they've got these invincible ships," he went on, rolling onto his back and clasping his hands behind his head, "so they can just fly out into the desert and do one better than the Rangers. After all, if we would just do our job, the whole world would be fixed by now."

"I'm going to guess that doesn't work out very well for them," Tommy ventured.

"Hah," Adam said dryly. "We find the bleached bones of their ships sometimes. We never find any of the people that were sailing them."

Tommy mulled this over. "Nobody said anything about anything like that when I was in training," he said at last.

Adam chuckled. "Yeah, there's a lot they don't tell you in training. Ask Jason or Billy sometime."

 _Or Trini?_ Tommy wondered, thinking of the peaceful, gentle Trini he'd known back home… and the young woman here that was so very like her, except that she was willing to kill another person in cold blood to protect the people she loved. But what he asked Adam was, "What about Kimberly?"

"Kim?" Adam asked, all innocence. But he couldn't maintain the charade for long. "Man, you've really got it bad for her, don't you?"

"Just curious," he insisted. He didn't think he'd been that transparent about his interest in Kimberly, but apparently he had. "It seems like everyone at the 'Hold has some sort of tragedy in their past…"

"Except you," Adam pointed out. "At least, not that you can remember."

He gave a cautious nod.

"Kim's been a standout since training," Adam said at last. "She was the first in our class to kill a monster, and she hasn't stopped fighting with Jason for first rank ever since." It sounded a little daunting to Tommy, but Adam seemed amused. "She's the best girl Ranger our 'Hold has ever had."

Somewhere, away off in the city, bells began to toll. Adam groaned and rolled onto his side, flinging an arm over his head as if to shut out the sound. Tommy's brow furrowed, and it began to bother him that nobody had really told him anything about Stone Canyon before dragging him out here and throwing him in head first. Before he could ask what was going on, Adam sat up, sighed, and said, "Well, come on. Night Market's just opened up."

They locked up their room behind them and joined up with Kimberly, Zack, and Jason outside the inn. Tommy followed silently where they led, keeping his eyes open and taking in as much of the city as he could. After all, he'd simply assumed that the answer to finding his way home lay with the Rangers, because that world was more or less familiar to him. But what if the answer was here somewhere, in a place where he might not expect to find it?

The five of them walked for nearly an hour, winding their way through wide streets and narrow alleys, including a long time spent hiking down an uneven staircase cut straight into the stone of the canyon's wall, which led deep down to the very bottom, until they came at last to what Adam had called the Night Market. This, apparently, was the reason they had come to Stone Canyon instead of any of the other cities within airship range from the 'Hold. Where other cities might shut down after dark, the sprawling market of Stone Canyon had just opened for the night. The market was just as large and sprawling as its city, though Tommy found the prospect of entering that bustling and crowded marketplace a bit daunting. The canyon walls loomed overhead and the city buildings this deep in the canyon were crammed together into what began to seem like a single monstrous, amorphous structure.

But the Rangers were undeterred and he didn't want to be left behind, so Tommy followed them through the gates and into the bustle. He'd expected this place to be gloomy and dark, but strings of large electric lights strung between raised poles bathed the entire market in such brilliant, steady light that it was easy to forget it was nighttime at the bottom of a canyon and not midday in the middle of the open desert.

"We'll meet back here by midnight," Jason pronounced, looking pointedly at Kimberly.

Tommy glanced in her direction as she gave Jason an adorable pout. "But –"

"No buts, Kim. You know we're here on business," Jason told her. His tone was stern, but not harsh. It almost seemed like he might be teasing her.

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "Fine."

When the time came to split into groups, Kimberly claimed Tommy as her partner while Jason, Zack, and Adam formed the other group. Tommy watched the three men head off into the crowd, feeling a bit exasperated. "I thought I was supposed to learn how this is done," he muttered.

Kimberly smiled, looking every bit the conspirator. "What Trini doesn't know won't hurt her."

Tommy utterly forgot to look for clues that might lead him back home as he watched Kimberly dig eagerly into the shopping. Somehow he hadn't expected this trip to be so much like a trip to the mall back home, but the vendors of the Night Market at Stone Canyon seemed to be selling anything anyone could ever want. And Kimberly fully intended to take the opportunity to acquire a few luxuries that she couldn't otherwise get at the 'Hold… and Tommy began to see why Trini sent her on every trip.

Using her relatively small portion of the group's funds, Kimberly purchased gifts for every Ranger in the 'Hold. Spices, candies, dried exotic fruits, cosmetics, hair ribbons, and, after much searching, a set of violin strings. She seemed pleased with each purchase. Tommy, who was stuck carrying all the packages, was less enthused.

"Did you just want me to come along to carry your stuff?" he asked, making a face and exaggerating how difficult it was to hang onto all of the little boxes and bags.

She smiled, giggling. "No, not entirely, anyway," she told him. "But what the others are doing is, well, less pleasant than this." She sighed. "I didn't want your first trip away from the 'Hold to be awful."

"Awful?" he repeated. And then he realized: no one had given him an angry or resentful look since they entered the market. Here they were just more travelers looking to buy goods or restock their supplies. They weren't the Rangers who only just managed to keep death at bay, who couldn't fix the problems with the world. They were nobody.

What were Jason and the others being forced to put up with, as they placed the larger orders for supplies for the entire stronghold?

"Is it that bad for them?" he found himself asking.

Kimberly sighed. "Let's go back to the meeting place and talk there."

They found an out of the way corner near the gate they had used to enter the market. Tommy was fairly certain that he would never have found his way back there without Kimberly's excellent sense of direction to guide him. They sat silently on a bench near the wall, watching latecomers wander into the market and early arrivals stagger out under the weight of enormous piles of packages. Tommy wondered if maybe he'd gotten off easy, only having to carry the small bundles Kimberly had selected for her friends back home.

"I know," Kimberly said at last, "that when you came to the 'Hold you thought being a Ranger was an admirable thing to do." Her voice was quiet, uncharacteristically sober. "And I agree with you. And not just because I'm a Ranger. And not because they took me in when nobody else would, either."

Tommy waited patiently for her to continue, uncertain of what to say.

"The people here and in the other cities," she went on, "they don't know what we do. They just know that we take in orphans and urchins and criminals and we turn them into fighters and tell them that we protect them." She closed her eyes, and Tommy realized that she was fighting against very real, very intense anger. She opened her eyes again, and now she looked more sad than angry. "Most of the people who live in Stone Canyon or the cities further south, away from the waste… they never leave their cities, Tommy. They have no idea what's out there. They only know the desert is a threat because we tell them that it is. And then we tell them that we're out there, keeping them safe from it. And in return we demand payment. Money, food, good cloth and leather, _new trainees_."

He hadn't thought of it that way. "But wait… you said they took you in when no one else would. How is that bad, from the city's point of view?"

She laughed quietly at that. "Doesn't make any sense, does it? They don't want the penniless orphans and the homeless street urchins or the teenagers stealing from the market because they have no other option. But the moment the Rangers make a move to take them in and give them something better to do with their lives, a roof over their head and a purpose to call their own, that's going too far."

Tommy caught sight of Zack waving through the crowd, with Jason and Adam close behind. Kimberly must have seen them, too, because she stood up and waved back, but it didn't look like their returning companions had cheered her up one bit.

"The people here think we fight imaginary monsters and demand too much in return," she said, her voice dark. "But I think one day they're going to realize just how much they need us… and they aren't going to like it one bit."


	20. Chapter 20

As far as Tommy could tell, the supply run to Stone Canyon went very smoothly. By the final day of the trip, Jason and Zack had secured most of the requested supplies and had found illicit means of obtaining the rest – filling the gaps, as Zack cheerfully put it. In the meantime, Kimberly had continued accumulating her usual stash of small, personalized gifts for the other residents of the Ranger Stronghold.

Tommy had tagged along with whoever he could, whenever he could, trying to learn as much about this world as he could. Adam, meanwhile, had disappeared and only returned after he had tracked down something Tommy never expected: a hefty, newly printed tome on the latest advances in engineering and physics.

"For Billy," he'd announced triumphantly as he presented the book to Tommy.

Tommy flipped absentmindedly through the crisp, white pages, but the words might as well have been written in Greek for all he understood the pages upon pages of numbers and increasingly arcane symbols. He had no doubt it would all make perfect sense to Billy.

As he handed it back to Adam, a part of him wondered if that book might hold his ticket home. But even if it did, it was so far beyond him that he probably couldn't understand it if he tried for a hundred years.

Feeling somewhat demoralized by this realization, he gathered his few belongings so they could vacate their tiny, cramped room on time. It was time to pack up the airship and head back to the 'Hold. The opportunity to stay here and search for answers in Stone Canyon was passing him by. And if Trini was right, he wouldn't get another chance for a long time, if ever.

He wasn't sure why, but he had a feeling his way home wasn't here in Stone Canyon, but somewhere out in the desert that the Rangers patrolled.

Or maybe that was just wishful thinking.

_After all_ , he thought sheepishly, _I didn't make much of an effort to look for a way home while I was here_.

Kimberly, too, was somber as they gathered at the dock. Tommy kept an eye on her while they waited for their turn to board their ship and fly out, worried by how quiet and withdrawn she seemed. She had cheered up considerably since that first night at the midnight market, or so Tommy had thought, but now her dark mood had returned. Or resurfaced. Tommy watched her sympathetically, hoping she would be happier once they returned to the 'Hold, and wishing he could think of a way to cheer her up now.

It was hard to resist that instinct to cheer her up; whatever had happened between them in the end back home, she was still important to him and he hated seeing her so down. Back home he had often looked to Jason or Zack, or even Ernie, for advice on getting her to smile, but this didn't seem like a good time to bother them.

So he settled for sticking close to her as they finally got the go-ahead to board the airship. The supplies they had purchased outright had already been stowed on board, and Jason and Zack had made arrangements for the rest to be delivered to the 'Hold in the coming weeks. All they had to do now was sit tight while Jason and Zack got them out of Stone Canyon and set the course for home.

"Don't worry," Kimberly said, flopping down onto the bench Tommy was sitting on. "They'll give you a chance to practice flying a laden ship once we get out of town."

He hadn't been worried about that. But if that was what it took to get her talking again, then he figured he ought to go for it. "Is it much different?" he asked.

She shrugged. "In some ways. In others it's just the same. Just remember to be careful because the ship won't respond as quickly to changes in direction as you're used to, and you should be fine," she advised. "You're a natural. I'd be really surprised if you had any major problems."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," he said, and he meant it. He might not have a great idea of what was going on in this strange place, but he did know that Kimberly was probably his most valuable ally. She had always fought for him, even when she knew nothing about him.

She smiled. "No problem, hotshot."

The smile hadn't reached her eyes. Tommy glanced at Adam, who was sitting across the cargo hold from them and had his nose buried in Billy's book, and guessed it was now or never. Turning back to Kimberly, he asked, "Are you okay?"

She looked a little taken aback. "I'm fine," she assured him, but her voice sounded anything but reassuring.

"It doesn't sound like it," he told her, keeping his voice low so as not to attract attention from Adam.

"It's nothing," she retorted.

He inched closer to her. "Yeah," he said, "it doesn't sound like nothing, either."

She frowned, and then seemed to suddenly deflate. "I just wish none of this was necessary," she admitted. "Is it so bad to want peace?"

He had a feeling that wasn't all of it. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking, too. He knew that it would be completely stupid of him to get involved romantically with Kimberly all over again – even if it was a totally different Kimberly – but he couldn't help wanting her to be interested in him. It was selfish and egotistical, and it would throw a huge wrench into any plans he might make, but he still wanted her to feel that way about him again.

"No," he said, after taking a moment to sort out his thoughts. "It's not bad at all. Actually, I think it's important for the Rangers to envision a world after the fighting."

She laughed bitterly. "Do you really think that's possible?"

"I know it is."

When she turned to look up at him, hopeful consternation on her face, it took everything in him not to lean down and kiss her right there. "What makes you so sure?" she asked.

He opted for the much less dangerous option of slipping an arm around her shoulders and tugging her close so she could lean against him. "Just call it a gut feeling."

She all but melted against him and this time when she laughed there was no bitterness in it. "And I'm supposed to just trust you?"

"I was hoping you would, yes," he agreed.

"You're lucky I like you, then," she teased.

He grinned. "I guess I am."


	21. Chapter 21

The return trip to the Stronghold was uneventful; their arrival went more or less unremarked. While Tommy and the others were making the supply run to Stone Canyon, the Elders had organized the next patrol dispatch. Fully half of the Stronghold's residents, including Trini, were out on rounds when they returned. Nearly everyone that remained, with the exception of Billy, were young recruits or the Rangers charged with teaching them.

In the days after their return, Kimberly quietly dispersed the gifts she had purchased and life in the 'Hold slowly went back to its usual quiet tedium.

As empty as it now was, the 'Hold seemed haunted and ominously silent. The others seemed to take it in stride, but Tommy found himself frequently looking over his shoulder for ghosts or monsters.

Kimberly found this all very amusing when Tommy finally admitted how he was feeling one day over tea. The empty dining hall loomed around them like some kind of enormous, echoing cavern. The effect was unnerving.

"Don't worry," she assured him, resting a hand lightly over his arm and leaning close. He had to struggle to keep up with what she was saying; the warmth of her fingers against his arm was just about all he could focus on. "They'll be back before you know it, and then you'll miss the quiet."

It was good to hear her laugh again, after her gloomy attitude in Stone Canyon. Even if it was at his expense. "I hope you're right," he told her.

She grinned. "I always am."

Not for the first time since their return, he realized she was completely distracting him. He couldn't help it. Despite his best intentions and the instincts that screamed that this was an utterly terrible idea, he was hopelessly drawn to her. If not for the sure knowledge that a relationship between them would mean the end of both their careers as Rangers, he would have been all too happy to given in to her obvious interest.

It seemed that no matter how badly things had ended between them, he would always have a soft spot for Kimberly Hart. And, one day, he had a feeling that was going to get him in trouble.

Thankfully, that day would not be today. She had been finding every possible excuse to spend time alone with him lately, but today she was scheduled to drill the young would-be Rangers in marksmanship, which meant her afternoon and evening would be otherwise occupied.

Tommy remained in the dining hall by himself for a while after Kimberly departed, missing the warmth of her presence but enjoying the solitude and the time it afforded him to think. He'd been doing an awful job of finding a way home. Maybe his conflicted feelings about Kimberly were a sign that he needed to work on that. It was getting to be too easy to imagine starting over here, as if his life in the real world had never existed. And that was a dangerous thought – not just for him, but for the friends he had left behind.

His head still ached horribly if he thought too much about his former life. He remembered in bits and flashes most of the time, except for his friends… and the Power Rangers.

It couldn't be coincidence that they were even "Rangers" here, despite how different this world was from the one he had grown up in. And it was hard to believe he had run into all his old friends here merely by chance, but that thought sent pain throbbing through his skull.

Realizing this line of thinking would get him nowhere again, and once again hoping he had not abandoned his friends back home to mortal danger, he left the dining hall behind. He had no destination in mind, but eventually found himself standing outside the entrance to the central control room.

Billy was on duty there, monitoring the radios and other equipment that kept the 'Hold in contact with the Rangers out on patrol. He was in the middle of taking a report from a Ranger that sounded like Rocky when Tommy slipped in. Billy gave a slight wave, indicating he could stay, and wrapped up the report.

The room, cramped with desks and bulky electronic equipment and filled to the brim with paper, fell silent as Billy wrote up the report. Tommy felt vaguely out of place here, as if he might move and accidentally break something vital. Billy, however, seemed unconcerned, even though he would be the one responsible for fixing anything that Tommy managed to break.

"So," Billy said at last, without looking up from his report, "what brings you to my little corner of the 'Hold?"

Tommy shrugged, not sure what he could say.

Billy looked up, then chuckled. "Not even a little bit curious?" he asked. Something in his tone reminded Tommy painfully of the geeky boy who had been bullied so often at home. Somehow he had assumed it wouldn't be so bad for Billy here, where he was so obviously needed. Now he wondered if he should have made more of an effort to spend time with Billy, instead of letting him work alone all day. And, as it turned out all too often, long into the night.

"More like…" Tommy gave a self-deprecating chuckle, "It's more like this is the last part of the 'Hold I haven't explored."

"Ah." Billy didn't sound impressed.

Tommy winced. It hadn't been his best line of reasoning ever, but he hadn't thought it was that bad. "It's not because of you," he said quietly.

Billy stiffened visibly before hurriedly turning to flip through some paperwork that lay piled haphazardly on the desk behind him. Elsewhere in the room, a radio crackled with static.

"I get in enough trouble with the Elders," Tommy went on. "I figured if I broke something in here, they'd kick me out."

The tension went out of Billy at that; it took Tommy a moment to figure out he was shaking because he was laughing so hard. "You're not wrong," Billy admitted, turning back to face Tommy. "They don't like you at all."

"And you?"

Billy shrugged, but there was a hint of a smile on his face. "If I thought you were going to break anything important, you wouldn't be in here right now." He leaned back against the desk, sobering. "Are you going to tell me why you're really here?"

The abrupt change in tone left Tommy reeling. "I don't have an ulterior motive, if that's what you're afraid of," he said softly. "I meant it: this is pretty much the only part of the 'Hold I haven't checked out yet. The Elders are part of the reason. The other part is that what you do here is so important. What you do here keeps the Rangers safe out there. And I didn't want to get in the way of that." He frowned. "What's that look for? You know something I don't?"

Billy hopped up to sit on the desk, rather than just leaning against it. "Would you believe me if I told you Kimberly said the same thing the first time she mustered up the courage to sneak in here?" he asked.

"Great minds think alike?"

"You might want to be careful of that," Billy told him.

Not for the first time in his life, Tommy wished that Billy were even just a little less cryptic. "You're gonna have to spell that out for me," he prompted.

"If you don't want to get kicked out of here, you might want to reconsider thinking too much like Kimberly."

Tommy tried not to wince too noticeably. "It's that obvious, huh?"

Billy didn't answer that question. Instead, he said, "From what I've seen, you're exactly what we need right now, Tommy. Don't blow it."

"I don't plan to," Tommy murmured, but he couldn't help wondering what Kimberly's plans might be. Deciding it would be safer to change the subject, he observed, "You know an awful lot about what goes on around here for a guy who spends all his time in this room."

That earned him what looked like it might almost be a smile. It seemed he might actually be making progress, painfully slow though it might be. "Didn't you know?" Billy asked, straight-faced. "It's my job to know everything."


	22. Chapter 22

Tommy hadn't needed the warning from Billy to know he had to be careful, but Billy's words still served their purpose of reminding him not to be so reckless.

It wasn't until that night, when he was staring up at the ceiling and listening to the even sound of Jason's breathing from the bunk against the other wall, that Tommy remembered he'd gone to the command room to find out what Billy knew about the desert, with an eye toward figuring out the local geography beyond the patrol route maps – and how it differed from the landscape back home. The more he thought about it, though, the more he thought he'd made the right decision by not bringing it up just yet.

His place here was shaky enough as it was. He'd have to be careful about arousing suspicion or else the Elders would get the wrong idea. Between that and Kimberly… he was walking a delicate line here. Rather than accepting that sooner or later he was bound to fall, he rolled over and shut his eyes, letting sleep wash over him and hoping that tomorrow would be better.

He went back to Billy's control chamber the next day and for the next several days after that, though he was careful to stay away from the communications equipment and to keep from bothering Billy or any of the Elders that bustled in and out. Based on his earlier visit, Tommy hadn't realized just how busy that control room could be during the day. Not wanting to be in the way—or to seem like he might be snooping around for Ranger secrets—he found a table that was more or less off to the side, gathered up the maps he was interested in, and took a seat.

For several hours, he almost spent more time watching the controlled chaos unfold than he did actually looking at the maps that had brought him here in the first place. Watching the goings-on in the control chamber was more productive than looking at the maps, anyway. There wasn't a single sign of anything he'd been hoping to find. No familiar landmarks. No Command Center.

He had known all along this was probably a hopeless endeavor, but he'd still hoped to find some sort of clue among the Rangers' maps. With no clues in sight, he wasn't sure what to do next. Ask to borrow an airship and go look for an ancient alien building that might not even exist in this world? The Elders already looked on him with suspicion and mistrust. Making bizarre requests was not going to help. He knew that much for sure.

"I wasn't joking, you know," Billy said when the activity had at last begun to die down for the day. "It really is my job to know everything that goes on around here, and with the Rangers out on patrol."

"How'd you get stuck with this gig?" Tommy asked. It was beginning to feel pretty claustrophobic in the command chamber. He couldn't imagine how Billy could stand being in here day in and day out.

"I didn't get stuck with it, per se," Billy told him, pulling up a chair and dropping into it. "Believe it or not, I enjoy what I do here."

That revelation wasn't actually all that surprising to Tommy, but he kept his opinion to himself. "What _do_ you do here, anyway?"

"I'm the man behind the curtain, pulling all the strings," he said ominously, and with a totally straight face. It took Tommy a second to realize he was joking. "I keep the patrol reports organized," he went on more seriously. "I keep track of who's checked in and who hasn't. I also track the supplies that are coming in from the cities, the training schedules for the new recruits, and so forth. It's boring, but necessary, and I can do it faster and more efficiently than just about anybody else."

"I thought you said you liked what you do."

"I do. But what you see here isn't _all_ I do."

Tommy was starting to understand. "That science book we brought back for you from Stone Canyon. And the airships and gliders and stuff… Kimberly said you designed all of it. That's the part you like, isn't it?"

"Exactly," Billy said with a grin.

"And you don't ever go on patrol because you're doing all this engineering stuff?"

"I used to." Billy shrugged. "But now… no."

"Any chance you'd be willing to tell me why?" Tommy asked, although he had a feeling he wasn't any more likely to get a real answer out of Billy than anyone else he'd tried asking. "I gather it's a touchy subject…"

For a moment Billy hesitated. He didn't quite seem to know what to say. "Jason and I got into trouble on a patrol once. Trini…" He trailed off, suddenly looking as if he were very far away—or remembering something he would rather have put behind him. "She nearly died getting us out of it. So now I stay here at the 'Hold because, as Trini would say, my mind is too valuable to risk out there when I could be here designing the next breakthrough weapon for our fight against the wasteland."

Much of Trini's behavior was beginning to make sense to him now. Tommy was intensely curious about what Billy might mean by 'trouble', but he also recognized that it wasn't his place to demand more information. So instead he asked, "She's really determined to put an end to all of this, isn't she?"

Billy shrugged again. "I think…" He glanced around, as if making sure they wouldn't be overheard. "Don't repeat this to anyone, especially not to the Elders, but I think a number of us feel that way. This has… the situation has gone on long enough. We can't keep trying to hold the desert back the way we have been. It's not sustainable. And, frankly, we're winning every battle and still losing the war."

Tommy didn't even think about it. He just asked. "How can I help?"

"I was starting to think you'd never ask."


	23. Chapter 23

It had been months now since Tommy woke up in this strange new world, but sometimes it still felt like just yesterday. The little things could still throw him off balance, little things like remembering that his roommate, Jason Lee Scott, had killed people before.

He and Jason hadn't got off on the best foot back home, and that Jason had been a kinder, gentler Jason than this one was. And he'd made an even worse impression here in this world, beating Jason in a fight on his first day. If he'd been thinking clearly, he would have made sure to put up a good fight and then conveniently lose. Instead he'd pushed his luck and made Jason very suspicious about where he'd come from and why.

He supposed it must count for something that they'd made it this long as roommates without killing each other or even coming to blows. It could have been worse. Somehow.

And now Billy wanted him to do the one thing that was nearly guaranteed to make things worse: try to get to know Jason. Deep down, he knew he would have to do it eventually and wouldn't be able to put it off much longer anyway, but he really wasn't looking forward to Jason's reaction to his efforts to be a better roommate, teammate, and friend.

Friend was probably too strong a word to use at this point.

Glumly, he had to admit they were far from friends. They'd probably only made it this far because Jason scrupulously avoided him and he obligingly stayed out of Jason's way whenever possible. But that wasn't getting them anywhere. And Billy was right, if they were going to put an end to whatever was going on with the wasteland, this had to stop. They would have to work together.

This was still easier said than done, but at least it was a direction to move in.

Luckily Tommy had never been one to run from a challenge. It took him several days of covertly observing, but he eventually came up with a plan – and what seemed like a relatively safe place to ambush Jason. Cornering him somewhere was the easy part. Getting him to talk was the real trick.

Even the Jason he'd known back home had often been terse and quiet, and the Jason in this world was even more so.

So when Tommy dropped into the seat across from Jason in the cafeteria, it didn't really come as a surprise when he remained silent. Tommy balked, every conversation starter he'd rehearsed flying right out of his head. He was silent so long that Jason grew impatient.

"Did you want something?" he asked dryly.

"Isn't it about time we stopped being enemies?" Tommy blurted, wondering where Kimberly, or even Trini, was. This would have been so much easier with someone to play the mediator.

"Are we enemies?"

Ignoring the sudden urge to throw his lunch right in Jason's face, he said, "Well, we're definitely not friends. We're barely even teammates."

Jason responded with a blank look.

"We're on the same side here. We have the same goals. Shouldn't we at least try to get along?"

This earned him an expression that looked almost like a smirk. "Can't you do any better than that?" Seeing Tommy's frown, he explained, "I'm still not sure you weren't sent here to find out everything you can about our operations. Kimberly and Billy might trust you, but that doesn't mean I'm going to."

"Look, I wish I could explain how I got here as much as you do, but I don't remember!" Tommy protested.

"And you don't think that's awfully convenient?"

Tommy sputtered. "It is, but it's also a coincidence."

"You show up now, of all times, and turn out to be the best fighter we've ever had, who, by the way, can't remember who he is or where he came from?" Jason leaned back in his seat. "Come on, I'm not that naïve. The Elders might be, but I'm not."

It sounded like Jason had been spending too much time with Trini, though Tommy kept that thought to himself. Instead, he asked, "What do I have to do to prove I mean no harm?"

Chuckling, Jason stood up and began to clear his dishes. "Nice try, but I'm not going to make it easier for you."

Tommy stayed where he was as Jason left to turn in his dishes at the kitchen door, then headed off to do whatever else he needed to do today. "Well," he muttered when Jason was finally out of sight, "that went horribly."

"What went horribly?" Kimberly asked, sliding into the space Jason had just vacated.

"Never mind."


End file.
